


of summer jobs and baby talk

by bapaldeul



Series: we shared a moment that will last till the end [3]
Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, One Shot, a pure and happy family, babysitter!au, babysitter!daniel, maknae line are the kids, no angst but then again idk, summer vacation setting, woojin is referred to as tiny terror more than once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 13:16:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 24,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13571331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bapaldeul/pseuds/bapaldeul
Summary: the goddess of luck is probably smiling upon him today; because daniel walks out of the art museum alive, all four children safe and sound, and  a new boy he can't stop thinking aboutor: daniel is a mess and jihoon can't help but fall for the unassuming babysitter





	of summer jobs and baby talk

**Author's Note:**

> this was supposed to be a harmless 5k one shot but oh well
> 
> enjoy!

It was supposed to be a joke, or maybe even a feeble attempt at a part-time job to feed his broke college ass. Daniel didn’t even think anyone would trust an unreliable looking boy like him with their kids’ wellbeing for half an hour, much less 6 hours for 4 days a week.

He doesn’t even know how he ends up with not one, but four boys who are either close to pulling each other’s hairs out of their scalps (Woojin and Daehwi), stealing food from his kitchen (Guanlin) or weirdly obsessed with the television remote (Jinyoung).

Daniel’s supposed to put all the blame on Seongwoo, his idiot best friend who suggested a putting his resume up on a stupid website called careforkids.co. He didn’t think he would get an offer immediately, from a group of concerned parents who had no caregivers to take care of their children after they finished school for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You look like you would play with the kids well.” (That was from Daehwi’s mother, and frankly, Daniel wasn’t sure what playing meant at that point in time. Now he knows – playing with five-year-old boys really meant allowing them to assault you whenever appropriate.)

“I’ll pay you extra if you look after him on weekends as well.” (That was from Woojin’s parents. After spending two weeks with Tiny Terror, Park Woojin, Daniel could understand why even his parents didn’t want to spend time with him.)

“You won’t have to do much; my son is very reserved.” (That was from Jinyoung’s mother. Daniel likes to think he’s been scammed – because as quiet as Jinyoung is, the little boy has a terrible habit of teething everything he sees.)

“My son eats anything; his meals are really easy to settle.” (Daniel thinks Guanlin’s mother has been the most honest about her son. The problem is, Guanlin does eat anything and everything he sets his eyes on, even the alcoholic chocolates Jaehwan had gifted to Daniel for his birthday. Daniel would prefer to keep that incident a secret from Guanlin’s mother.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Daniel’s third week of his babysitting job, he’s long run out of ideas to entertain the kids. They have gotten tired of his rollercoaster rides, saying they have to wait too long for their turn. 

“I have one pair of arms and four of you to play with, how am I supposed to make this fast?” Daniel mumbles his breath and receives an eyeroll from Woojin in response.

He doesn’t know how he comes to the conclusion that he should bring the kids to an art museum after school one day. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Where are we going?” Daehwi asks cheerfully, his footsteps light and power rangers backpack bumping against his back as he skips in tune with Daniel’s steps.

Daniel would offer to carry Daehwi’s backpack, but he already has Woojin’s and Jinyoung’s slung over his shoulder. And he knows Daehwi has a golden heart – because the boy has never voluntarily asked Daniel to carry his backpack for him.

“We’re going to see some drawings,” Daniel replies in a cheery tone, something he’s gotten used to ever since he started this job. “There will be paintings of people, animals and maybe even food!”

“Food?” Guanlin choruses from the other end of their line. “Daniel hyung, I’m hungry.”

Daniel checks the time on his phone, it’s only been an hour since they had lunch at the kindergarten. Then again, he really shouldn’t be surprised.

“I promise we’ll eat when we get there, okay?” Daniel says. “We’re crossing the road now, hold each other’s hands.”

Wordlessly, the boys link their hands together and manage to cross the road without any major arguments; except Woojin complaining that he has to hold Daehwi’s hand and Daehwi arguing back, “What’s wrong with holding my hand?”

It’s going to be a long day, and Daniel can’t wait for it to end already.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel can’t remember the last time he’d stepped into an art museum. Maybe two years ago, when he’d taken a compulsory elective in his first year in college. Even then, the memories are hazy. 

He takes the boys into the museum’s café for some food first – he knows Guanlin is going to start losing it if he doesn’t get food in the next five minutes. 

“Four kid’s meals, and two vanilla milkshakes, please,” Daniel says, not meeting eyes with the cashier because he has to keep his eyes on the children at the other end of the café. Much to his surprise, they are chatting peacefully with each other. 

He still doesn’t let his guard down and continues to keep an eye on them. The last time he did, Tiny Terror (see also: Park Woojin) had bolted and made Daniel run after him in the middle of the park. Daniel doesn’t have many fond memories of that day.

Fortunately, the orders come out quick enough and Daniel brings the food to the table soon enough. 

Guanlin digs in immediately, the other boys following suit as they dive into their mini fish and chips. 

“Woojin and Guanlin will share one milkshake,” Daniel instructs, “And Jinyoung and Daehwi will share the other.”

“Why can’t we get one each?” Guanlin asks, food spewing out of his mouth as he talks.

“Don’t talk when your mouth is full,” Daehwi chides, his mouth equally packed with food.

A chuckle rises from Daniel’s chest as he leans over to ruffle Daehwi’s hair. (Don’t tell the other children, but he’s always had a soft spot for Daehwi.)

“Well, you should share first. And if you still want one later on, I’ll get you another, alright?” Daniel reasons. He thanks the internet for babysitting tips, because Guanlin accepts his reasoning immediately and continues to take his chips apart.

Daniel likes lunchtime the best; it’s when the boys are the quietest. He’s learnt to appreciate the 20 minutes or so he gets every session. 

“What about you, Daniel hyung?” he hears Jinyoung mumble, but doesn’t quite catch the last part of the sentence that Jinyoung mumbles, it doesn’t help that Jinyoung likes to look at the ground when he talks.

Still, Daniel leans in closer to Jinyoung and says, “Sorry, Jinyoung. Did you ask me something?”

Jinyoung gains some confidence, and repeats his question. He even manages to look at Daniel in the eye this time.

“Why aren’t you eating? What if you get hungry later?” Jinyoung asks, pointing to his stomach to repeat his point.

It makes Daniel’s heart swell with fondness. Although it’s been a tough two weeks with the four boys, they’ve learnt to care for each other in small ways; so small you would miss them if you blinked.

“I’m not hungry, I ate with my friend earlier on,” Daniel explains, encouraging Jinyoung to continue eating. 

He’d gotten lunch with Seongwoo earlier on, where his best friend coincidentally forgot to bring his wallet out of the house and Daniel had to pay for everything. Still, he thinks he’d gotten some useful opinions about his choice to bring the boys out to an art museum today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Are you fucking crazy?” Seongwoo sputters when Daniel tells him where he’s taking the boys today.

“Yuck,” Daniel says when some of the Bolognese sauce splatters over the table. Sometimes, he thinks the boys have better table manners than his best friend. 

Daniel slumps in his chair disappointedly, “I know, but I have nowhere else to go. I heard they were having an exhibition of art created by children this week; which was why I thought it would be a good idea to go.”

“If I remember correctly, the last time you dragged me to an art museum for one of your elective modules, you fell asleep in one of the theatres.”

Daniel lets out a strangled groan. He should have known this was a bad idea.

“Maybe unlike me, the kids appreciate some cultural experiences,” Daniel offers helplessly, not believing his own words.

“Cultural experiences my foot,” Seongwoo scoffs. “Don’t call me when Tiny Terror starts screaming in the museum or when Guanlin starts eating the markers.”

Daniel wants to defend Woojin and Guanlin, but he really can’t. He knows the Goddess of Luck is smiling upon him if he even makes it out of the museum alive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“What’s a museum like?” Guanlin asks when Daniel collects the tickets from the counter and looks around for the entrance. Fortunately, a nice tour guide points him in the correct direction and Daniel grabs Woojin’s hand immediately; knowing the other kids have a lower chance of running away.

“There are many different types of museums,” Daniel explains patiently to the boys, who all look interested in his explanation; which is a good sign.

_For now._

“This one’s called an art museum. Kids like you draw and paint and their works are put up here for people like us to see.”

Daehwi oohs and aahs, making Daniel smile again. 

There aren’t many people, especially during this time on a Monday. That relieves a tenth of Daniel’s nervousness, because he knows how jittery Jinyoung gets around crowds. Luckily, the boy looks intrigued by some of the paintings hung up on the walls.

Surprisingly, Daniel isn’t bombarded by questions or complaints. The four boys take an interest at some paintings, so Daniel takes the time to appreciate the art as well. He’s so into one of the explanations at an artwork that he doesn’t notice a boy standing right next to him.

“Wow,” Daniel mumbles to himself. He has a habit of voicing his amusement out loud, and gets startled when he realises that someone is standing next to him, reading the same piece as he is.

The boy doesn’t look older than Daniel, a few years younger if he had to estimate.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” the boy chuckles, a genuine smile spreading across his cheeks easily.

Daniel doesn’t know why he feels his face flush red and instinctively scratches the nape of his neck awkwardly. 

The boy adjusts his glasses and continues smiling at Daniel.

It takes a few seconds for Daniel to realise that he’s the one who should offer a response instead.

“Y-yeah. Interesting,” Daniel replies, adding in a very unnatural laugh. “I really like the way he um, explained his art style and the uh… colour tones used in this artwork.”

 _Real smooth,_ Daniel chides himself. This is one of those moments he’s going to think about at night and scream into his pillow because of the embarrassment.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he hears a familiar scream that can only belong to the one and only Tiny Terror and is forced to shift his gaze from the boy in front of him a little to the side, to see Woojin grabbing Daehwi’s hair.

Daniel manages a quick “sorry” before rushing off to separate the two boys. 

“He- grabbed my hair!” Daehwi sniffles.

“He said mean things to me,” Woojin retorts, not looking the least remorseful. 

Daniel doesn’t even have the energy to sigh, this was bound to happen, it was just a matter of when it would happen. 

“You hurt each other,” Daniel explains in the sternest voice he can manage, hoping to get his point across. “Daehwi, you shouldn’t say mean things. And Woojin, what did I say about being violent towards your friends?”

“I shouldn’t be violent,” Woojin mumbles in response which is enough to satisfy Daniel for now.

“Now shake hands and hug,” Daniel instructs.

Although neither boy looks willing to, they shake hands and even share a quick hug. Daniel smiles, feeling proud that he’d managed to solve an argument in record time today. Usually, it’d take ten minutes to calm both parties down. He’s just relieved that Guanlin and Jinyoung weren’t involved this time.

_Guanlin and Jinyoung._

“Oh fuck,” Daniel cusses in panic when he realizes that while he’d been busy resolving the conflict between Woojin and Daehwi, he’d totally forgotten about the other two boys. He looks around, praying that he’ll spot the top of their heads anywhere.

Panic starts to set in when he can’t spot either boy. Daniel knows he’s gone fucked up this time and looks around desperately for help.

How is he going to explain to Guanlin’s and Jinyoung’s parents? Oh God, they’re going to throw Daniel in jail and he’s going to die of guilt because he’s lost two of his boys.

“Hey, by any chance did you lose these two boys?” 

Daniel turns around to the voice quickly, and practically flies to Guanlin’s and Jinyoung’s side. Their hands are tightly clasped in the hands of the boy from before. Daniel kneels down to check if Guanlin and Jinyoung are alright and heaves a sigh of relief when everything looks fine.

“Where did you go?” Daniel cries, “I told you boys never to walk away from me!”

“We’re sorry, hyung,” Guanlin apologizes quickly and Jinyoung mumbles an apology too.

“He came up to me asking me if I had any food, so I gave him some chocolates. I hope that’s okay,” the boy says, holding up Guanlin’s hand to tell Daniel which child he was talking about. He then looks at Jinyoung and says, “I found him squatting alone at the corner and figured he must be lost.”

“Thank you so, so much,” Daniel gushes. He doesn’t know how he can ever repay the kindness of this boy. The boy in front of him might have saved him his job, his future, maybe even his life.

“Jihoon,” the boy identifies himself. “And you?”

“Daniel,” Daniel replies, his smile finally finding its way to his face again. He makes sure to grab tight onto Daehwi’s and Woojin’s hands because one heart attack a day is enough.

“I don’t know how I can thank you,” Daniel says.

Jihoon contemplates Daniel’s statement for a moment, then smiles as he replies, “You could let me babysit with you for today. I’m bored to tears with my art assignment, some company would be nice.”

Daniel has to blink twice before registering what Jihoon is asking and nods dumbly.

“S-sure,” he stammers. “I could use an extra pair of eyes.”

Jihoon laughs, then keeps the clipboard he’s been holding in his hand in his bag and takes Guanlin’s and Jinyoung’s hands again. 

“I suppose you haven’t been to the DIY section, have you?” Jihoon’s eyes twinkle as he walks down the hallway with Daniel, separated by Woojin and Guanlin in between them.

“There’s a DIY section?” Daniel choruses. He really should have done some research before coming down. Now he looks like an incompetent babysitter in front of Jihoon.

“It’s where kids can do some painting, it’s really fun, we should go.”

“That sounds like a disaster.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a disaster it is. Daniel doesn’t really know the word to describe a good kind of disaster. There are many things that are going wrong right now; like how all four boys’ uniforms are stained because they’d somehow gotten into a paint fight along the way.

But there are many things that aren’t going wrong right now. One of the things being the way Jihoon’s lips spread into an evil smile as he faces Daniel with paint-stained fingers.

“Please, don’t,” Daniel begs for his life in front of a boy he’d met only an hour ago.

“I don’t think it’s fair if the kids get dirty and their babysitter doesn’t,” Jihoon teases, stepping closer to Daniel. He stops, then turns to the boys who look amused at the scene of a stranger assaulting their babysitter.

“What do you think, Woojin?” Jihoon shares a knowing look with Tiny Terror. “Should I let him go this time?”

From the way Woojin smirks, Daniel knows his white shirt is not going to survive the day.

“Kill him.”

Jihoon doesn’t hesitate to smother Daniel’s face with paint and laughs merrily as Daniel struggles. The boys aren’t helping, they’re cheering Jihoon on.

“Stay still and it will be painless,” Jihoon giggles, making sure to dab more paint on Daniel’s nose.

“Game on, Park Jihoon,” Daniel growls, holding Jihoon away from him with his strong grip and reaches over to dip his fingers in the paint bucket although he knows he’s probably setting a really bad example in front of the boys right now.

“Come on,” Daniel scoffs, fingers inches away from Jihoon’s face. “It’s paint for paint.”

“Please let me live,” Jihoon begs, his big eyes looking much more desperate than before.

Daniel thinks about letting Jihoon have his way (after all, should he really be getting this close to someone he barely knows?) then says fuck it in his mind and goes in for it. The paint smudges nicely on Jihoon’s right cheek.

From the way Jihoon glares at him, Daniel thinks he’s gotten himself into a situation he doesn’t know the way out of.

He isn’t sure which situation he prefers, getting into a paint fight with a cute stranger or the museum security stepping in and chasing them out for being a public nuisance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I can’t believe you got us kicked out of an art museum!” Jihoon groans when they’re finally outside.

“Me?” Daniel repeats. “I got us kicked out? You started it!”

Daniel catches the gaze of the security guard that escorted them out and shuts his mouth, embarrassed that he had just let himself be chased out of a museum just because Jihoon started a fight Daniel didn’t know how to say no to.

“That was so fun! Let’s do that again!” Woojin exclaims, his face stained with yellow and red paint. Daniel worries that some of the paint might have stained his teeth and makes a mental note to check later.

“We’re going home now,” Daniel sighs. “I don’t know how I’m going to explain this to your parents.”

All the boys pout but link their hands together, looking expectantly at Daniel for the next directions.

“What about you, Jihoon hyung? Aren’t you coming along?” Daehwi asks, drawing Daniel’s attention to Jihoon who is standing awkwardly at the side.

Without another word, Jinyoung takes Jihoon’s hand in his.

“I- uh,” Jihoon replies to Daehwi, but his eyes are meeting Daniel’s.

“You could come over to my place if you’re comfortable, I live just down the street,” Daniel offers before he can decide whether this is a good idea or not. 

He sees Jihoon hesitating, and quickly interrupts, “Or not. Sorry, inviting you over was too much, wasn’t it?”

Jihoon lets out a breathy laugh, “I think I would really like that, if you don’t mind.”

When Daniel planned for an outing with four five-year-olds, he didn’t plan to come back with a plus one – much less a plus one he knew almost nothing about. There are too many risks to consider, but Daniel doesn’t care. 

“That sounds amazing,” Daniel says, and he means it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s a breezy walk home and Daniel doesn’t feel as anxious this time because he knows that he has an extra pair of hands and eyes watching over the children. Woojin, as usual has his eyes fixated on his surroundings and Guanlin is munching on a cookie he’d begged Daniel to get from a food cart they’d passed by earlier on.

The most surprising this is that Jinyoung is talking.

Daniel knows Jinyoung talks, he just never really engages in a conversation with Daniel unless he really needs something from the older. The first time he’d met Jinyoung, the boy had refused to talk to him for three days.

Yet, Bae Jinyoung is the same boy who has the brightest smile spread across his cheeks as he whispers something into Jihoon’s ear. Jihoon nods in agreement to something Jinyoung says, and follows suit by whispering a reply into Jinyoung’s ear, making the boy smile even wider.

 _Huh_ , Daniel thinks. Is he really going to be one-upped by a boy he’d met in an art museum?

“Hyung,” Daehwi little hand squeezes Daniel’s and he looks down to see the boy wearing a puzzled expression on his face. “Who is Jihoon hyung? Is he your friend?”

“Uh,” Daniel mummers. He looks over at Jihoon, who has dried up paint on his cheek but still remains engaged in his secret conversation with Jinyoung. He never once looks bored or exasperated, which Daniel looks up to.

“Something like that,” Daniel muses. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel unlocks his door and the four boys scurry into the apartment, Woojin screaming as he pushes past the others and into the playroom.

“Wash your face and feet before you start playing!” Daniel yells out, but he’s sure none of his words are being heeded by the boys. 

“That’s my toy car!” he hears Daehwi argue from the playroom.

Daniel sighs, shaking his head, knowing he has to act as the mediator for another one of Daehwi’s and Woojin’s impending arguments. He’d give it five minutes, tops, before it blows into a full out screaming argument.

He hears Jihoon chuckle, and remembers that there is a stranger in the house with him.

“How did you land yourself into a job you can’t handle?” Jihoon laughs, crossing his arms as he surveys Daniel from top to bottom.

Daniel should feel insulted, but he laughs along with Jihoon as well. It’s not like he doesn’t ask himself the same question at least ten times a day. He leads Jihoon into the kitchen and asks, “Any drinks for you?”

“Water would be good,” Jihoon replies, accepting a cup of water Daniel pours for him.

“I was trying to keep myself occupied during the summer holidays,” Daniel shrugs. “I put my name and address up on some shady website and suddenly I have four boys on hand.”

“I can’t say you’re an absolute mess at this, though. You’re handling this better than any other college kid I know,” Jihoon muses. 

Daniel accepts the compliment with pride. Over the weeks, he’s found himself getting better and better with handling the kids. 

“What can I say?” Daniel smiles to himself. “They’re beginning to grow on me. Sometimes, I hate this job.”

Just then, Tiny Terror lets out a horrific scream that proves Daniel’s point. Jihoon looks over to the playroom worriedly but Daniel just pulls him back into the kitchen.

“He does that all the time,” Daniel assures Jihoon. He then continues his previous sentence, “But sometimes I love this job. I feel like I’m learning more from the kids than they are learning for me.”

For a moment, Daniel thinks he’s getting too sappy and he’s turning Jihoon off. Jihoon only gulps down his drink and nods in response to Daniel’s answer.

“I’ve tried babysitting my siblings before, it was a disaster,” Jihoon’s face scrunches to form a scowl.

Daniel laughs at Jihoon’s cute expression.

“You seem like a natural. I’ve never seen Jinyoung open up so quickly to anyone. It took me three days to get a word out of that boy,” Daniel jumps in to defend Jihoon’s pride.

“I come from a big family,” Jihoon admits. “Lot of baby cousins, nephews and nieces. Can’t help but interact with kids every time we get together.”

Daniel can tell – it’s the natural way Jihoon interacts and talks with the boys. The way he accedes to their requests without spoiling them. Unlike Daniel’s skills which are acquired from the internet, Jihoon is a professional at this.

“Do I have to share my pay with you now?” Daniel teases.

“No, no,” Jihoon looks flustered even if he knows Daniel is joking. He lowers his gaze to the ground and says, “Honestly, I’m just thankful I had you and the boys to keep me company today. It gets really lonely here during the summer because all my friends go back to their hometowns for vacation.”

“It was our pleasure,” Daniel says on behalf of him and the children, because he knows they would feel the same way.

It’s endearing, the way Jihoon’s expression visibly brightens up when the words leave Daniel’s mouth. His lips form a shy smile, which he tries to hide by looking at the ground. Daniel doesn’t know why someone with such a pretty smile would ever want to hide it from the world.

“You should get your face cleaned up,” Daniel clears his throat, afraid that he’s spent too much time staring at Jihoon.

“I will,” Jihoon nods, heading to the bathroom and breaking the moment they shared. Daniel sighs, calms his heart and walks over to the playroom where the boys have turned strangely quiet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Jihoon returns, he’s no longer wearing his rounded glasses.

“Got rid of the art boy aesthetic?” Daniel jokes as he helps Guanlin build a lego lower. Jihoon settles down naturally beside Daniel, their knees touching because the playroom isn’t huge and Woojin has occupied a large space alone by spreading his legs to mark his territory.

“You are absolutely right,” Jihoon plays along. “I thought looking the part would help me through my summer assignment. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”

“Arts major?” Daniel asks, not wanting to pry too much.

Jihoon nods, adding another block to their tower. “It’s my first year in college. What about you?”

“Third year Psychology,” Daniel replies with a smile on his face. “Wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do in the future. Figured I liked studying people, so here I am.”

“Wow,” Jihoon marvels. “You must be really smart.”

Before Daniel can refute by saying he’s barely managing to get by, Guanlin chides him for placing a lego block at the wrong position. He gets distracted and humours Guanlin while Jihoon turns to Daehwi, who is playing with his toy kitchen.

“Open your mouth, Jihoon hyung,” Daehwi says.

Daniel puts on a show for Guanlin by pretending to be very interested in legos but steals glances at Jihoon instead, who is playing along with Daehwi by opening his mouth and allowing Daehwi to feed him a cut-out strawberry.

“That was very tasty,” Jihoon gushes, bringing a bright smile to Daehwi’s face. 

Jihoon continues playing with Daehwi, constantly switching between being Daehwi’s assistant chef and his customer. Regardless, he doesn’t show any signs of exhaustion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before Daniel knows it, it’s past six and someone rings the doorbell. He rushes to the door, and rushes back with Woojin in his arms. The cycle repeats with the other parents and Daniel apologizes several times for their stained uniforms. The boy’s parents are kind and smile and say it’s okay. They even thank Daniel for bringing their children out to an art museum.

When Daniel finally says goodbye to the last parent (Jinyoung’s), he turns to slump onto his couch only to find that Jihoon is already there.

“I knew the professional babysitter had his limits too,” Daniel marvels, but pats Jihoon’s back in encouragement anyway.

Jihoon groans into the pillow he’s holding, a total change from the cheery and excitable boy from earlier.

“I’m going to die,” Jihoon whines to no one in particular, and Daniel understands. He’s done that a lot – ever since he’d gotten into college, actually. “I have a few drawings I want to finish tonight but my siblings are noisy and the house is never peaceful.”

Daniel only offers Jihoon gentle pats on his back as a response. He’s the only child, so he’s never known what it feels like to have other kids bothering you the whole day. He’s only used to tiring himself out 6 hours a day, four days a week, and he knows the rest of the time is free for him to use.

“You should have told me,” Daniel chides. “I would have made you gone home if I knew you had work to complete.”

“Doesn’t work that way,” Jihoon sighs. “When inspiration doesn’t strike, I can’t do anything about it.”

Jihoon pauses, then finally lifts his face from the pillow to look at Daniel. Now, he finally sees how tired the boy looks and his heart aches. However, the exhaustion is replaced with a grin in a split second.

“I had fun today.”

Daniel stands beside the couch, shell-shocked at Jihoon’s mysteriously mesmerizing smile for a few moments before realizing that he should say something back.

“I-I had fun today too.”

“It’s been quite a while,” Jihoon elaborates. He stretches, and sits up. “I should probably go.”

“Stay for dinner,” Daniel offers. He doesn’t mind eating alone, but he doesn’t mind eating with someone else either. Especially if that someone is Jihoon.

“Mom’s cooking,” Jihoon offers a weak smile. “I would love to, but I’m really sorry.”

It’s not a rejection, but Daniel still feels somehow defeated. He manages a small smile and shows Jihoon to the door and waits for Jihoon to lace up his shoelaces. The boy ties his shoelaces painfully slowly, but Daniel continues to watch in amusement.

“Give me your phone,” Jihoon says when he stands up.

“My phone,” Daniel repeats to himself, fishing his phone out of his jeans pocket and hands it over to Jihoon’s waiting hands. He watches as Jihoon punches in his number and calls his own phone. 

“There,” Jihoon smiles, returning Daniel’s phone. “Let me know if you’re ever up to do this again.”

Daniel holds the phone close to his chest like it’s something precious now. 

“Bye, Daniel,” Jihoon waves one last goodbye and walks away towards the lift landing. Daniel continues to watch him, until the lift doors open and Jihoon flashes a bright smile at him.

“I’m so glad I met you today,” Daniel lets slip, but doesn’t have to worry about Jihoon accidentally hearing him because the lift doors close and the hallway turns silent again, completely erasing any proof of Jihoon’s existence from before.

The goddess of luck wasn’t just smiling upon him today. In fact, she was bestowing all of her fortunes upon Kang Daniel – he’d made it out of the art museum alive, four kids safe and sound, and possibly a boy he can’t seem to stop thinking about.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first time Daniel actually texts Jihoon is unexpectedly; not out of his own will. 

That is, if you don’t count the 10 times Daniel had moped around in his empty apartment with his phone in his hand, fingers just barely grazing over Jihoon’s number, mind racing with thoughts as to whether he should just swallow up his man ego and text Jihoon first.

So, it’s not Daniel that cracks first.

_It’s Jinyoung._

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m not going to eat,” Jinyoung whines, putting his spoon and fork down, lips forming into a natural pout that Daniel would think was cute if Jinyoung wasn’t being a total brat right now. Daniel sighs, fingers running through his hair in frustration as he searches through his “babysitter database” for a solution to his problem.

“And why aren’t you going to eat?” Daniel reasons with a calmness he doesn’t expect himself to have.

He knows the basics.

 _Not hungry?_ Leave them alone – they’ll eat when they’re hungry.

 _Want sweet things instead?_ Promise them a chocolate when they’re done with their main course.

“Jihoon hyung,” Jinyoung mumbles, lowering his gaze.

But _Jihoon hyung?_ Daniel doesn’t have a fucking clue what to do.

“What about Jihoon hyung?” Daniel repeats.

“Not going to eat till he comes here,” Jinyoung says, crossing his arms now to prove his point.

Daniel freezes; he’s never had this problem before. Jinyoung is rarely this difficult during meal times (it’s Woojin that is the picky eater – but Daniel resolves that easily by entertaining him.) In fact, he can’t recall a time where Jinyoung has refused to even touch his food.

“Will you eat if Jihoon comes here?” Daniel asks.

Jinyoung nods, and Daniel whips out his phone.

Well, Daniel thinks. This is the golden opportunity for him to ask Jihoon over without looking too overenthusiastic. He really, really hopes Jihoon is free to come over – or he’ll have to deal with a sulky Jinyoung the entire day.

 

 

 

 

**Daniel:** Hi, it’s Daniel here. Can you come over? Jinyoung says he won’t eat if you aren’t here  
**Daniel:** If you can’t it’s fine though!  
**Daniel:** I’ll manage :) 

**Jihoon:** I’ll be there, give me 15 minutes!  
**Jihoon:** By the way, do you have a spare room for me to work on something? 

**Daniel:** The only spare room I have besides the playroom is my bedroom. Is that okay? 

**Jihoon:** Sounds good to me! See you! 

 

 

 

 

Daniel lets out a sigh of relief when he sees Jihoon go offline. He’s not going to have to think of a solution he doesn’t have to coax Jinyoung into eating his lunch after all. And maybe, just maybe, he’s a little excited to see Jihoon again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel almost trips over his own feet when the doorbell rings and he runs to open it. He barely manages to steady himself before opening the door and revealing Jihoon – in a red and white striped shirt and light blue jeans.

(Minus the glasses this time, _what a shame_ , Daniel thinks.)

“Hi,” Jihoon says, taking off his sneakers and beaming at Daniel.

“Hey,” Daniel manages to say back without fumbling over his words. “Thank you so much for coming over. I have no idea why Jinyoung is being so difficult today.”

When Jihoon laughs, it’s like the sun has risen right outside Daniel’s apartment. Jihoon’s bangs fall nicely over his forehead, just barely above his eyes.

“I must have made too good of an impression the previous time,” Jihoon muses.

“Come in,” Daniel says, realising how weird it must seem to Jihoon that they’re having a conversation at his door. When Jihoon walks past Daniel, he catches sight of a bag he’s holding in his hands.

“What’s that?” Daniel asks, peering into the bag.

“My art stuff,” Jihoon explains. “Figured I’ll finish up some drawings if I have some time.”

For a moment, Daniel feels sorry about interrupting Jihoon while he was in the middle of doing something. But Jihoon looks genuinely okay with being here, so he keeps his mouth shut to not dampen the mood.

“Not sure if Jinyoung is going to let you out of his arms today, but sure,” Daniel teases, knowing how much Jinyoung and the other children have missed Jihoon. Just a few days ago, Daehwi had asked Daniel if Jihoon was ever going to come back.

“I hope so, Daehwi. I really hope so.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like magic, Jinyoung starts eating properly when Jihoon offers to feed him. They get along even better than the previous time, Jinyoung smiling as Jihoon jokes with him. 

Jinyoung isn’t the only one naturally drawn to Jihoon’s aura – Daniel finds himself wandering around the kitchen area when he should really be in the playroom supervising the other three who have already finished their lunch. Finally, he just takes a seat opposite where Jihoon and Jinyoung are sitting.

“Hyung, how many siblings do you have?” Jinyoung asks.

“One older brother, one younger brother and two younger twin sisters.”

Including Jihoon, his household had a whopping number of five children. Daniel can’t even relate for a second, even the college dorms have a maximum of four people rooming together. If he counted Jihoon’s parents – there would be seven people in the house at a time.

No wonder Jihoon could never do his work in peace at home.

“Are they nice?” Jinyoung continues after taking another bite of his food.

“Very nice,” Jihoon confirms. “They all listen really well to me. So you have to listen to Daniel hyung next time as well, okay?”

Jinyoung nods, and Jihoon hooks Jinyoung’s pinky fingers in his.

“Pinky swear.”

“I promise to listen to Daniel hyung.”

Jihoon makes sure to smile at Daniel when their pinkies hook together tight. Daniel mouths a “thank you” to Jihoon.

At this point, Daniel doesn’t know how many times Jihoon has saved him from losing his mind. He thinks it would be really nice to have Jihoon around more regularly.

“There! All done, now wash your hands and you can play with your friends.”

Jinyoung hi-fives Jihoon and follows his instructions enthusiastically. He then disappears into the playroom, and Jihoon rises from his seat to wash Jinyoung’s bowl. Daniel quickly steps in to help.

“I can do it,” Daniel insists. “You’ve helped me enough. I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“You don’t have to,” Jihoon says, letting Daniel wash the bowl anyway. He doesn’t leave. Instead, he leans against the kitchen counter and watches Daniel. “In fact, I should be thanking you. My younger brother was going to drive me crazy with all his screaming if I stayed in my house for another minute.”

“We have Woojin,” Daniel points out.

Jihoon chuckles, nodding his head and agreeing with Daniel. 

“It took you long enough to text me.”

Daniel’s hands freeze altogether and he knows his cheeks are red. Hopefully, he can pass it off as the hot weather.

“It’s not like you didn’t have my number either,” Daniel mumbles, focusing all of his attention on washing the cutlery, refusing to look at Jihoon. 

“Are you sulking?” Jihoon teases. “I’m here now.”

“I’m not sulking,” Daniel replies curtly, obviously sulking. 

Jihoon laughs. He suddenly runs his hands under the water and flicks some droplets into Daniel’s unsuspecting face. He flinches, drawing another hearty laugh from Jihoon. Daniel’s jaw hangs open in absolute betrayal.

“Did you just… do that to me?” Daniel sputters, unable to comprehend the situation.

Daniel’s reaction only makes Jihoon double over and laugh even harder. Daniel has a hard time maintaining a straight face when Jihoon is laughing so hard – and pretty soon he’s giggling too.

Also – he takes revenge.

“Come here,” Daniel threatens, putting down the bowl and sponge in his hands and reaches out to grab Jihoon’s arm before he can make a run for it. He pulls Jihoon closer to him, and finds out that Jihoon is lighter than he’d imagined. He cushions Jihoon’s fall when Jihoon’s head knocks against his chest.

It would look romantic – except Daniel proceeds to hold Jihoon in a headlock.

“Let me go!” Jihoon whines as he trashes in Daniel’s arm. 

Daniel is glad he’d followed Seongwoo to the gym a few weeks before. He isn’t ripped by any means, but he’s strong enough to hold Jihoon in his place. And for now, that is enough.

“This is for that time you painted my face too,” Daniel responds.

“Why are you so petty?” Jihoon chides, and Daniel knows he’s smiling even though he can’t really see Jihoon’s expression right now. “You shouldn’t hold grudges. It’s not good for you.”

That only makes Daniel tighten his headlock and Jihoon starts to plead, “Alright, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again. Please let me go.”

Daniel would have continued to mess around with Jihoon if it wasn’t for the four small heads that popped out from outside the kitchen.

“Daniel hyung? What are you doing to Jihoon hyung?” 

If it isn’t Jinyoung’s too-concerned tone that makes Daniel embarrassed, it’s the wide-eyed stares he gets from the other three. He quickly lets Jihoon go, and they both freeze as if they’ve just been caught doing something very inappropriate.

And maybe it is a little appropriate – to hold someone you’re only meeting for the second time in a headlock.

Jihoon scratches the nape of his neck awkwardly as he looks at Daniel to explain. Again, Daniel shoots him a betrayed look that says, “You really expect me to explain to the kids?”

When Jihoon gives him a glare, Daniel immediately goes forward to the four children and crouches down, “We were just playing around, don’t worry. Should we go and play together now?”

After a few very painful moments, the kids relent and shuffle back to their room, leaving a very embarrassed Jihoon and Daniel alone again.

“I uh… you can go ahead and do your work if you want to. I’ll play with the kids,” Daniel offers.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jihoon mutters, suddenly looking very busy as he goes to fetch his bag and materials from the living room. “It’s fine if I use your bedroom, right?”

“Sure,” Daniel nods. “It’s the second door to your left. I’ll make sure you don’t get disrupted.”

Jihoon gives Daniel a small smile, and disappears into Daniel’s bedroom. He scurries over to the playroom, and joins Daehwi in playing with his toy dinosaurs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel figures that Jihoon must be very focused on his work, because he doesn’t even leave the room for a toilet break, or a drink even after two hours. (It’s not like Daniel is keeping track, and he’s totally not sneaking glances at his bedroom door to see if Jihoon has come out.)

Finally, Daniel decides that he’s going to make Jihoon take a break if he doesn’t take a break himself.

He grabs a glass of water from the kitchen and knocks softly on his bedroom door. When he doesn’t get an audible answer, he takes that as a cue to enter.

Jihoon’s back is bent over when Daniel enters. He jolts up from what he’s working on and faces Daniel sheepishly.

“Hey, I brought you some water. Thought you might need a break,” Daniel says, setting the glass of water down on his study table.

“Thank you,” Jihoon gushes, putting his pencil down. Daniel wants to sneak a peek at what Jihoon is sketching but decides it wouldn’t be nice to invade Jihoon’s privacy. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you knocking.”

“It’s fine,” Daniel insists. 

Even if only two hours have passed, Jihoon looks a lot more tired that he did when he first arrived. His eyes are hazy and his lips are dry. He gulps down the glass of water Daniel gives him and smiles, but Daniel can’t tell if it’s forced.

“You should take a break,” Daniel says. “Come out and stretch, play house with Jinyoung for a few minutes or something.”

Jihoon shakes his head, “Can’t. Have to make the most of my inspiration before it disappears on me again.”

“Okay,” Daniel says, not wanting to press Jihoon any further. He paces around the room for a while, then finally leans on the study table and asks, “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

Jihoon looks surprised at Daniel’s question, but manages to gather his composure quickly. He hesitates for a moment, and Daniel interrupts him, “If your mom is cooking, or if you feel uncomfortable, it’s fine-“

“I’ll stay for dinner,” Jihoon replies.

Daniel doesn’t know why or how – but his heart does backflips at that moment. He pinches himself to see if it’s a dream; it’s not. 

“Cool,” Daniel smiles.

He curses internally right after. “Cool?” Who even says “Cool” now? It’s all because Jihoon caught him off guard – he hadn’t really expected Jihoon to actually say yes to dinner. And now he’s panicking because he hasn’t really planned out what to have.

“Is takeout okay?” Daniel asks warily, not knowing if Jihoon likes the idea of having junk food for dinner. (Technically, takeout isn’t junk food. It’s for lonely people who are too lazy to leave the house. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Daniel is used to settling for.)

“Sounds great,” Jihoon confirms. “Tell me when the kids are leaving, alright? I want to say goodbye to them.”

“Got it. Remember to take a break if you need to,” Daniel says, taking that as a cue to leave the room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Is Jihoon hyung busy? Why is he not playing with us?” Jinyoung asks Daniel when he returns to their playroom and sits beside Daehwi, who is playing with his toy cars. Woojin is concentrating on a crossword puzzle and being quiet for a change, and Guanlin is playing legos with Jinyoung.

A pretty pleasant afternoon for Daniel if you ask him.

“He has some homework to finish up,” Daniel explains to Jinyoung as he ruffles the boy’s hair. “Let’s not disturb him right now, okay?”

Fortunately, Jinyoung doesn’t make a big fuss like Daniel thought he would, and continues to play with his toys silently. Daniel joins him, head spinning with a million options for dinner tonight. 

It’s not supposed to be anything too special. After all, he’s just having a friendly dinner with one of his new friends, isn’t he?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel knocks on his bedroom door another two hours later to alert the boy that it’s time for the children to go home for the day. Jihoon appears at the door in seconds, hair looking more frazzled than ever but Daniel doesn’t point it out – in fact, he thinks it’s a little cute.

“Come on,” Daniel urges him to the front door. “Say hi to Jinyoung’s parents, they’ve been wanting to meet you ever since their son couldn’t stop talking about you to them.”

“I can’t, especially when I’m looking like this” Jihoon suddenly looks flustered and shy as he shoots glances at the door.

Without much thought, Daniel grabs Jihoon’s wrist and pulls him to the door, where Jinyoung’s mother is waiting. 

Jinyoung’s face lights up when Jihoon gets forced to face Jinyoung’s mother and he instantly lets go of her hand to wrap his tiny body around Jihoon’s leg. For a moment, Jihoon looks like he has no idea what to do with Jinyoung but readjusts in seconds, patting the crown of Jinyoung’s head gently.

“You must be Jihoon, Jinyoung told me so much about you,” Jinyoung’s mother gushes, looking down lovingly at how much Jinyoung adores Jihoon. “Thank you so much for playing with him well. He’s not one to talk much, but these days, he can’t seem to stop talking about you.”

A cute, pink flush reaches Jihoon’s cheeks as the compliments spill out of Jinyoung’s mother’s mouth and he quickly bows, replying, “T-thank you so much. He’s a very lovely boy.”

“Tell me if I need to start paying for your services too,” Jinyoung’s mother teases as she glances back to Jinyoung, to who she says, “Come on, Jinyoung. Say goodbye to Daniel and Jihoon hyung and say you’ll see them tomorrow.”

Jinyoung sends a wave their way, which makes Daniel’s heart melt every time. He knows it’s not really farewell and he’ll see them again tomorrow, but it still makes his heart feel empty when he returns to his strangely quiet apartment.

It gets worse when Daniel has to send the other three off, but he makes sure to put on a smile every time in order to not make the children sad. 

Once he’s done bidding everyone farewell and introducing Jihoon to all the parents, he trudges back into the playroom to clean up the toys that are strewn all over the floor. 

“Let me help,” Jihoon offers as he settles down opposite Daniel to put the toy cars neatly back into the box behind him. 

Daniel manages a natural smile – it’s nice to have someone clean up with him for a change.

“What do you want for dinner? It’s my treat; for helping me out today,” Daniel says.

“Chicken,” Jihoon says with a grin on his face. He moves on to help Daniel with detaching the legos, adding on, “Don’t make treating me your habit, I might just spend all of your babysitting money.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel is glad Jihoon is good at making small talk. It’s not awkward thanks to Jihoon’s natural sense in carrying a conversation, and his generous reactions to whatever Daniel is saying.

On a normal day, Daniel would be situated in front of the television in his pyjamas and a can of beer in his hand. In his other hand would be a pair of chopsticks shoving whatever takeout he had decided to order that day.

It’s pretty pathetic. (Seongwoo’s words, not his.)

But today is a somewhat special day. 

He’s still seated in front of the television, but his knees are touching Jihoon’s, and there are two cans of beer on the table sitting next to the large box of fried chicken he’d ordered for the both of them.

Daniel no longer has to laugh to himself when the character on the television makes a joke and feel lonely right after, he has Jihoon to giggle with now. It’s all very strange and surreal to have someone other than his mother or Seongwoo in his apartment, but it’s nice.

“Oh my god,” Jihoon says suddenly during the commercial break as he turns towards Daniel. “You didn’t finish your chicken properly. Don’t waste it!”

Daniel follows Jihoon’s gaze to the pile of bones at the side of his plate and smiles sheepishly as he gathers them again to finish some of the meat he’d left carelessly on the bone. 

“Sorry, mom,” Daniel mumbles.

“It’s a habit from my family,” Jihoon explains. “My mom won’t ever let me live it down if I waste a drop of food. I guess you’re stuck with me nagging at you for the rest of your summer holiday.”

Daniel thinks he really wouldn’t mind that.

Before he can reply Jihoon, a notification from Jihoon’s phone interrupts their moment and Jihoon reaches over the table to check the message immediately. With his clean fingers, he skilfully unlocks his phone and checks his new message.

Daniel doesn’t mean to peak, but a boy’s selfie catches his eye when Jihoon downloads an image sent to him. He hears Jihoon snort and type something in response to the image.

Suddenly, his heart feels strangely heavy.

“Your boyfriend?” Daniel asks, noting the way Jihoon smiles to himself as he types a response.

“What? Oh my god, no. No, no, no,” Jihoon looks embarrassed as he flings his phone away and shakes his head furiously. “That’s just… my roommate from school. His name is Donghan and he has a really bad habit of sending me selfies instead of messages.”

“Oh,” Daniel replies and he feels the weight of his heart fade away. “Yeah, I know how that feels like. Seongwoo’s a lot like that sometimes.”

“Seongwoo? Is that your boyfriend?” Jihoon catches on.

Now it’s Daniel’s turn to gag. Thank God, he wasn’t chewing on his chicken at the moment because he would have definitely choked on his food and Ong Seongwoo was going to be the cause of his demise. 

“Hell no,” Daniel retorts. “I wouldn’t date my best friend even if he was the last human being left on earth. No offence to him, though. He’s a pretty alright guy, but no, I would never stoop down to that level.”

Daniel’s violent reaction makes Jihoon chuckle and nod his head.

“That’s exactly Donghan. He’s just acts really clingy to me because he knows I don’t have many friends other than him. It’s sweet, but I wish he wouldn’t make me feel so guilty sometimes.”

Daniel can sense Jihoon’s mood dampening and now is a great time to say something really funny or witty to cheer the other boy up but instead, he’s intrigued by this sudden serious conversation they’re having.

“Why would he want to make you feel guilty?” Daniel asks. “He’s your friend, I’m sure he would want you to be happy no matter what.”

Jihoon shrugs and reaches for another drumstick, “He’s pretty popular, and he really doesn’t have to hang out with me. The only reason he probably does that is because he feels obliged to.”

“You’re wrong, Park Jihoon.”

Jihoon tenses up at the unfamiliar use of his full name that escapes Daniel’s lips, or it may be the intense gaze that Daniel has him under.

“What?”

“You’re a funny and interesting individual, and I really like spending time with you. Why else would I ask you to come over twice? Why else would I invite you over for dinner?”

Jihoon ponders over Daniel’s words for a moment and replies in a meek voice, “Because you feel like you have to do something in return for me taking care of Jinyoung?”

“No! _Damn it, Jihoon_. You got it all wrong. I genuinely enjoy your company,” Daniel insists, hoping his sincerity comes across. It feels weird to have such words spill out of his mouth – he’s never really had to give a pep talk to anyone before, but he’s willing to do it for Jihoon.

Jihoon seems to mull over Daniel’s words for a moment.

“You really mean that?”

“Positive,” Daniel answers. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”

That makes Jihoon smile a little and nod, “Yeah. We’re friends. Thank you, Daniel, I needed that.”

“You’re welcome, and you shouldn’t doubt Donghan anymore. I don’t know him, but I’m sure he’s a nice person, alright?” 

“Got it,” Jihoon says with more confidence than before. “And that goes the same for Seongwoo.”

Almost as if on cue, Daniel’s phone rings with a new message from Seongwoo, with an image attached to it.

 

 

 

 

**Seongwoo:** (image attatched) wanna come over and play video games?  
**Seongwoo:** I’m bored, best friend  
**Seongwoo:** I know you’re reading my messages, stop ignoring me! 

 

 

 

 

Daniel takes the opportunity when Jihoon is focused on the show to secretly snap a photo of the boy. He smiles at the picture – it’s a nice one, he might even save it for himself to keep.

 

 

 

 

**Daniel:** (image attatched)  
**Daniel:** Sorry I can’t, I’m busy right now :( 

**Seongwoo:** What the fuck????  
**Seongwoo:** WHO IS THAT  
**Seongwoo:** DID YOU ACCEPT ANOTHER BABYSITTING JOB OFFER 

**Daniel:** Wtf… no.  
**Daniel:** Long story short, met this cute boy when I brought the boys to the museum the other time and now they can’t keep their arms off him.  
**Daniel:** May or may not have invited him for over for dinner and he may or may not have agreed? 

**Seongwoo:** OH MY GOD YOUR VIRGIN ASS IS GOING TO GET LAID???

 

 

 

 

Daniel takes that as a cue to turn his phone off and focus on his dinner and the show (and Jihoon) instead. This time, he makes sure to polish off all the meat on the bones and somehow, the jokes made by the characters on television are so much funnier today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Come over tomorrow,” Daniel says, not as an offer but more as an instruction as he watches Jihoon pack his art materials back into his bag after they finish dinner. 

“This is probably a more conducive environment for you to finish your work, and I could use an extra pair of hands to help with the kids regularly,” Daniel explains as Jihoon chews on his lower lip, not sure what to say.

After what feels like an eternity, Jihoon finally says, “Can I really do that?”

“Please do,” Daniel replies.

And when Jihoon gives him a smile that’s only meant for him, Kang Daniel, he feels his heart burst into a flurry of confusing emotions. 

“I’ll be here tomorrow, then,” Jihoon confirms.

Daniel walks Jihoon to the front door, and watches him tie his shoelaces painfully slowly again. It’s pretty dark out now, and Daniel says, “Hey, text me when you’re home, alright?”

He leaves out the “just to make sure you’re safe part” because it’s too cheesy to say aloud.

Daniel doesn’t leave until he sees Jihoon walk to the lift lobby, and waves the boy one last goodbye before the lift doors close and separate the both of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In half an hour, Daniel gets a text from Jihoon after he’s done washing up and is lying in bed playing one of his mobile games. 

 

 

 

 

 **Jihoon:** I’m home!! 

**Daniel:** Good, sleep well :)

 **Jihoon:** I will~  
**Jihoon:** And Daniel?

 **Daniel:** Yeah?

 **Jihoon:** I genuinely enjoy your company too :)

 

 

 

 

Daniel, for the life of him, has no clue how to respond to that so he leaves Jihoon on read. Half of him is panicking that he’ll reply with something so stupid it scares Jihoon off forever, but the other half of him is chiding himself for leaving Jihoon on read.

 

 

 

 

 **Daniel:** I’m so fucked

 **Seongwoo:** Is that a sign that you’re not a virgin anymore or…

 **Daniel:** NO  
**Daniel:** He’s so cute, what do I do

 **Seongwoo:** Make him yours

 **Daniel:** Thanks, Seongwoo. You’re the best friend I could ever have. You know what I like about you the most? The realistic advice you give to me all the time. 

**Seongwoo:** You’re welcome  
**Seongwoo:** That’s sarcasm isn’t it…  
**Seongwoo:** Come back here asshole

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel almost bites all his nails out of pure nervousness the next day when Jihoon arrives right after he does with the four kids. Today, Jihoon is wearing a pretty yellow shirt with black ripped jeans and oh my god, Daniel can’t help but smile as he reaches out to touch the frame of Jihoon’s glasses, “I see these have made a comeback.”

“You like them?” Jihoon asks, his eyes twinkling with cheekiness.

“Very much,” Daniel finds himself agreeing. He leads Jihoon inside naturally this time, and asks, “Have you eaten lunch? I’m cooking fried rice, I could throw in your share as well.”

“Yes, please,” Jihoon replies immediately, nodding his head enthusiastically at the sound of food.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel wouldn’t call himself a good chef – but he can whip up an edible fried rice that keeps the four boys coming back for more. 

“Do you need my help?” Jihoon asks, joining Daniel after washing his hands.

To be honest, Daniel doesn’t really need help right now, but thinks it would be nice to have Jihoon around as company anyway. He glances towards the untouched vegetables near the counter and says, “Help me wash the vegetables? I’ll chop them up.”

“Sure thing,” Jihoon says, immediately setting off to work.

Jihoon washes the carrots first and passes them to Daniel who is waiting with a knife – it all seems very domestic to Daniel, and it makes his heart do backflips in his chest.

He tries to focus on chopping the vegetables into small cubes that won’t choke the children, but his attention keeps being diverted to Jihoon, who is very focused on washing the vegetables. Jihoon’s glasses slip down a little and he uses his elbow to push them up again.

Daniel doesn’t know why he finds this all very endearing.

“Ow!” he can’t help but gasp when he something sharp prick his finger.

Daniel finally stops looking at Jihoon to scrutinize his index finger which is bleeding more profusely than he thought a small cut would do. It stings more than a normal cut – and when he looks closer he realises the cut is right under his nail.

“Oh my god,” Jihoon gasps and turns the water off immediately to attend to Daniel. 

Without hesitation, Jihoon pulls Daniel towards the sink by the arm and makes Daniel run his finger under water.

“Where do you keep your band aids?” Jihoon asks.

“Left drawer,” Daniel says, cocking his head towards the drawer at the other corner of the kitchen. Jihoon leaves his side for a moment and rummages through the drawer to finally fish out a band aid. Skilfully, he removes the packaging and returns to Daniel.

“Idiot,” he mumbles as he helps Daniel put the band aid on. “What were you so distracted by?”

The real answer Daniel should give is “ _You_ ” but he chooses to keep his mouth shut for now.

“Does it hurt a lot?” Jihoon asks as he wears a concerned expression on his face once he finishes wrapping up Daniel’s finger. It’s a little tight, but he doesn’t complain.

Daniel shakes his head no, and Jihoon pulls out a chair and says, “You’re not doing this anymore. Just tell me what to do and I’ll finish up.”

Daniel opens his mouth to protest but Jihoon shuts him up with a glare.

Since when did he get so submissive to someone younger than him?

“I’m fine though,” Daniel mumbles under his breath but takes a seat anyway. He’s probably not going to get much work done if Jihoon continues looking this endearing today. “You can finish up the vegetables and fry the rice together.”

“Don’t worry, I got it,” Jihoon assures him with a confident smile on his face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It seems that Daniel’s worries do come true because Jihoon is as much of a klutz as he is. Jihoon does well for most of the preparing part, but flinches as soon as he starts pouring oil into the frying pan.

The oil splatters a little, making Jihoon jump backwards.

Instantly, Daniel is up on his feet, checking to see if Jihoon is okay.

“You alright?” he asks, grabbing the boy by the arm and scrutinizing his face. “You didn’t get burnt, right?”

“I’m fine,” Jihoon assures him. 

Daniel doesn’t believe him though, and snatches the spatula back from Jihoon’s hands. “I think I should take it from here.”

“I just wanted to help,” Jihoon pouts. 

Jihoon pouts – and Daniel almost loses his mind. Grown men are not allowed to pout, especially when they’re already as cute as Jihoon is. 

“I-I know,” Daniel sighs. “You’ve helped me enough. Just help me set the table?”

Fortunately, Jihoon accepts Daniel’s suggestion and happily goes to setting the table while Daniel focuses on not burning the rice. It’s hard to keep his focus when Jihoon starts humming a familiar tune while he fetches the cutlery. 

Pretty soon, the glorious scent of Daniel’s fried rice draws the children to the kitchen and they settle down in their respective places, all ready for their lunch.

“Say thank you to Daniel hyung,” Jihoon says before the kids dig into the rice and they all simultaneously turn their heads to Daniel, smiling as they say, “Thank you Daniel hyung!”

It melts Daniel’s heart, it really does. Just not as much as the smile Jihoon gives Daniel when he takes a bite out of the fried rice as well, and gives him a big thumbs up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Let’s play house,” Daehwi suggests later that afternoon. 

“Okay,” Daniel agrees. “What do you want to be?”

Daehwi ponders over Daniel’s question for a moment, and says, “I’ll be the dad, and you and Jihoon hyung can be the grandma and grandpa!” 

“Are we married, then?” Jihoon asks from the other corner of the playroom, where he’s entertaining Woojin by playing with toy cars.

Daniel knows it’s just a joke on Jihoon’s side, but feels the heat rush to his ears and quickly looks away to avoid Jihoon’s gaze.

“Why don’t I be the dog? Woof woof,” Daniel suggests to Daehwi, pretending to take on a persona of the dog and paws at Daehwi, who looks unsatisfied.

“No, Woojin is the dog,” Daehwi says, looking pointedly at Woojin, who doesn’t seem so uncomfortable with the suggestion. In fact, Woojin gets into character immediately and gets on all fours, pouncing on Jihoon immediately.

It takes Jihoon a while to get out of Woojin’s grip, and when he does, he’s out of breath.

“Guanlin can be the son,” Daehwi says; then points to Jinyoung and asks, “Who do you want to be?”

Jinyoung looks shocked and mumbles something about not wanting to play but Jihoon scooches closer to him and whispers something in his ear. Suddenly, Jinyoung smiles and says, “I’ll be the dad along with Daehwi.”

Daehwi just shrugs and agrees immediately.

“Come here, grandpa,” Jihoon says mockingly as he takes a seat beside Daniel while Daehwi is busy trying to give out instructions to the other kids.

Daniel almost chokes on thin air when Jihoon naturally laces their fingers together. Jihoon’s hand is soft and warm, and he almost misses Jihoon whispering to him, “This is all for the act.”

They watch Daehwi bicker with Woojin for a moment about how their dog isn’t meant to bite people all the time, until Jihoon has to step in and say, “Why don’t you cook something for me and Daniel hyung?”

That distracts Daehwi for a moment and he quickly returns to his cooking set, Jinyoung following close behind him.

Guanlin observes the scene closely and asks in broken Korean, “Hyung, why are you holding hands?”

Daniel struggles to let go, but Jihoon holds him tight and replies Guanlin with a sweet smile on his face, “We’re supposed to be married. This is what married people do, like your mother and father.”

“Ah,” Guanlin nods like he understands but returns to “helping Daehwi out in the kitchen” right after.

“You’re corrupting the children,” Daniel leans in closer to Jihoon and says into his ear.

Jihoon slaps him on the thigh, earning them suspicious looks from the kids, but they turn back to their cooking almost immediately. 

“Just play along,” Jihoon groans. 

Daniel likes the feeling of Jihoon’s hand in his, so he doesn’t protest and allows himself to enjoy the moment instead. 

Pretty soon, the children finish whipping up a “lunch” for their ‘grandparents” and Daehwi proudly presents the food to them on a plastic metal tray.

“Thank you, Daehwi,” Jihoon coos.

Two can play Jihoon’s game, Daniel decides. 

“Baby,” Daniel teases, looking straight into Jihoon’s eyes, “let me feed you.”

Jihoon doesn’t even seem flustered for a moment at the sudden pet name, and plays along with Daniel, pretending to eat whatever Daniel offers to him. Jihoon even flutters his long eyelashes at Daniel and deliberately makes a kissy face towards him.

 

 

 

Daniel really doesn’t know what came over him back then. Maybe he just wanted to fool around with Jihoon, or maybe his true feelings came spilling out in the spur of the moment. All he knows now is that he wants to take whatever he said back.

 

 

 

Daniel smiles at Jihoon’s kissy face, putting on a show for the kids but leans closer to Jihoon’s ear and whispers, “Park Jihoon, if you really keep this up, I might kiss you for real.”

And there it is – Jihoon’s flustered face, flushed red. The red travels up to the tip of his ears and his eyes grow wide in shock. Immediately, he untangles his fingers from Daniel’s and stutters, “I- uh... I have something to do. Yeah, I’ll go do that.”

Jihoon rises to his feet, and quickly shuffles out of the room, leaving Daniel with the other four children in awkward silence.

Daniel wants to take everything back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel is in a daze for the rest of the day, wondering how and why he fucked it up for both Jihoon and him. It doesn’t even work when he tries to distract himself by playing other games with Daehwi.

And it doesn’t help when Jihoon locks himself in the bedroom for a few hours after.

Jihoon doesn’t leave the room for any breaks, and Daniel decides he can’t stand the awkward silence anymore. 

He leaves the playroom to get a glass of water, and knocks lightly on Jihoon’s (his) bedroom door. 

“Come in,” Jihoon calls, and Daniel is caught off guard. Usually, Jihoon is so caught up in his work that he won’t even hear Daniel knock. Still, he calms his raging heartbeat and tries to be as natural as possible.

Jihoon is facing the door when he enters, and smiles weakly when he sees Daniel with his usual glass of water.

“You didn’t have to,” Jihoon protests, but accepts the glass of water anyway. “I keep reminding myself that I have to take breaks, but I get caught up in the moment and forget. Now I feel bad for troubling you.”

Daniel takes a seat beside Jihoon on his bed, and watches as Jihoon gulps the water down.

“Don’t feel that way, I’ll remind you to take breaks from now on,” Daniel replies. His eyes gaze over the drawings strewn all over the table and says, “You look like you’re working really hard.”

“Yeah,” Jihoon says, nodding slowly. “Some sketches just don’t turn out the way I want them to and I have to redo them over and over.”

Daniel doesn’t know how to reply to that, so they just sit in awkward silence. And it really shouldn’t be this way; Daniel instantly regrets letting that stupid sentence escape his mouth from earlier.

“About what I said earlier…” Daniel starts off, and Jihoon’s head springs up to look at him.

“I was just joking around,” Daniel explains. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

“No, no, no,” Jihoon quickly jumps in to make Daniel feel better. “It was fine, I was just caught off guard. It’s okay, I swear.”

Something about Jihoon’s smile tells Daniel that not everything is okay but he’s not really in the mood to go over what he just said so he just stands up and says, “Cool. Are you staying for dinner tonight?”

He really hopes for Jihoon to say yes, because the previous time was such a breath of fresh air to him; and he’d like to do it again.

Much to his disappointment, Jihoon shakes his head apologetically and says, “My mom’s cooking today. I’m really sorry, maybe next time?”

Daniel can’t help but crack a bitter smile but replies, “It’s fine! I’ll leave you some peace and quiet now.”

Slowly, he trudges out of his room and whips his phone out to text Seongwoo.

 

 

 

 

 **Daniel:** I’m fucked

 **Seongwoo:** What did you do this time?

 **Daniel:** I might have told Jihoon I wanted to kiss him as a joke

 **Seongwoo:** I told you to stop letting your dick do the talking for once  
**Seongwoo:** You’re hopeless

 

 

 

 

 

 

Something has changed between him and Jihoon – and Daniel can feel it right down to his bones. Although he’d sent Jihoon off with a smile the previous day, there’s still awkwardness that fills the air Daniel doesn’t really know how to resolve.

He isn’t one to confront people about their feelings, so he just keeps his mouth shut and pretends that everything is okay.

“What are you doing?” Jihoon asks when he lets himself into Daniel’s apartment two days after the “kissing” incident.

Jihoon is dressed in a cute light blue shirt today, glasses missing but still looking great to Daniel.

“Building a fort,” Daniel explains as he carries his blanket out of his bedroom and throws it onto the couch. He’s out of breath by then, because he’d moved the chairs and pillows from his room outside before Jihoon arrived. 

“Figured the children would want to try something new,” Daniel continues as he tries his best to mimic the picture of a fort he’d found on the internet.

Jihoon chuckles, puts his things down in the room and returns to help Daniel.

“You’ve never built a fort in your life, have you?” Jihoon chides as he takes over and skilfully uses the laundry pins Daniel has already laid out on the table. “Leave it all to the expert.”

Daniel lets Jihoon take over and watches as he manages to build a fort that somewhat resembles the picture on his phone and can’t help but compliment Jihoon, “Wow, you’re good.”

“Perks of having three younger siblings,” Jihoon explains, throwing the pillows under the blanket as a finishing statement and adds, “You can get them outside now. Are we watching a movie?”

“Yeah,” Daniel nods. “Why don’t you pick one? Just make sure it’s age appropriate.”

“Very funny, Kang Daniel.”

Daniel sends a cheeky wink Jihoon’s way, to which the other boy responds with a gag and Daniel knows they’re going to be fine. Some things may have changed, but he wants to believe that they’re going to be okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank God, the four kids love the fort. Daniel would have blown his top if they didn’t like the fort after he’d spent all his time trying to put it up. 

They pile excitedly under the blankets and Daniel settles comfortably on the couch as he waits for Jihoon to pick out a movie from the catalogue. Jihoon settles on a Disney movie Daniel himself hasn’t watched, and pats the seat beside him to encourage Jihoon to sit down.

Jihoon doesn’t protest, he turns the lights off (to which Woojin responds to by screaming but is immediately shushed by Daehwi when the movie starts playing) and carefully settles beside Daniel in order to not destroy the fort.

“I should be working on my drawings,” Jihoon whispers, careful not to disturb the silence.

“Relax,” Daniel encourages. “It’s fine to take a break once in a while. Besides, you chose this movie, you can’t just leave me alone with four other children. What if I end up crying at the end and they don’t?”

That makes Jihoon erupt into a burst of giggles at the thought of Daniel crying after a Disney movie and he finally relents and watches the movie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel thinks he should really have more movie afternoons. There are too many perks – there is peace and silence in the apartment, and he can spend his time staring dreamily at Jihoon.

He’s not sure at what point in the movie Jihoon starts to move closer to him (or is he the one moving closer to Jihoon?) and their thighs are touching.

Daniel’s arm rests comfortable on the top of the couch, and he’s suddenly hyper aware of how Jihoon’s head is leaning back on his arm.

It’s probably nothing special, but it still makes his mind go places.

Daniel wills himself to stop and returns to focusing on the movie instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Are you avoiding me?” Daniel whispers during the climax of movie, where he knows all the children are hooked onto the storyline and won’t interrupt him and Jihoon.

“Hm?” Jihoon looks up from the television and into Daniel’s eyes. It’s then he realises that they’re sitting way too close for people who are supposed to be just friends. Somewhere along the way, Jihoon had gotten tired of leaning his head against the head of the couch and started leaning on Daniel’s right shoulder instead.

Maybe it’s because Daniel is a naturally touchy person that he doesn’t notice it sooner. Or maybe Jihoon does this to everyone and it’s not much of a big deal to him.

“I asked if you were avoiding me.”

“And why would you think so?” Jihoon asks.

“You rejected my offer for dinner ever since the… incident,” Daniel replies, refusing to meet Jihoon’s eyes because he finds it too suffocating to talk about his feelings to anyone.

(Except this is one situation whereby he can’t stand the awkwardness anymore, so he has to step up and do something about it.)

“You really think I’m avoiding you because I feel uncomfortable with you?” Jihoon repeats.

“Yeah?” Daniel answers dumbly.

Jihoon wears an unreadable expression that Daniel doesn’t know how to respond to. He only turns his attention back to the television and his heart fills with regret again.

I should never have brought it up again, now I made it even more awkward and he’s going to hate me forever and he’s never going to come back-

“Daniel,” Jihoon says, waking Daniel from his internal blabbering. 

“I’m not lying when I say this; I didn’t stay for dinner because my mom cooked dinner in advance. And about that incident, I already said I was fine with it. It was you who acted all awkward when I was texting you,” Jihoon explains as calmly as he can manage.

Daniel feels a certain weight being lifted off his chest when he listens to Jihoon explain everything to him.

“If you’re so doubtful of me then fine, I’ll stay for dinner tonight.”

That brings a smile to Daniel’s face and he quickly sits up, hitting Jihoon’s head in the process and asks, “Will you really?”

Jihoon winces and nods, “Yes, dummy. You need to make it up to me as well.”

“I will,” Daniel nods enthusasitically and knows he probably looks like an over-enthusiastic puppy right now but he doesn’t care. All that matters is that the air has been cleared and Jihoon looks genuinely comfortable with him.

“Good, now lay back down. My neck is going to hurt if I don’t have anything to lie down on,” Jihoon says, and Daniel quickly returns to his original position. Jihoon wordlessly lies his head down on Daniel’s shoulder right after.

If Jihoon feels Daniel gently patting the crown of his head, he doesn’t say a thing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The movie ends just in time as the children’s parents come to pick them up. By now, they’re all familiar with Jihoon and are even comfortable with joking with each other. They send the children off with a smile and promise to see them tomorrow.

“Are you ready to taste the best ramyun you’ve ever had in your life?” Daniel challenges once he locks the front door and turns back to Jihoon, who is helping to dismantle the fort.

“I highly doubt your ramyun will be better than mine,” Jihoon says, crossing his arms.

Daniel doesn’t mean to brag – but there is nothing tastier than the ramyun of someone who has lived alone for three years. 

“The challenge is on.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner passes way too quickly for Daniel’s liking. They come to a consensus that each of their ramyun is special in their own ways and that they can both be winners for the night.

“I have to go,” Jihoon says, glancing at the clock. 

It’s 9pm, and Daniel hadn’t even noticed the time passing so quickly when he was joking around with Jihoon.

“I’ll walk you home,” Daniel offers.

“You don’t have to,” Jihoon protests, already halfway to the front door.

“Let me,” Daniel insists. “Didn’t you hear about the strange people we have in this neighbourhood? Better safe than sorry, let’s go quickly.”

Jihoon purses his lips as he hesitates but Daniel doesn’t give him a chance to reason with him, and starts pushing Jihoon out the door. 

It’s the first time Daniel isn’t just seeing Jihoon to the lift lobby – and frankly, this is so much better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The road back is dark and illuminated with a few dimly lit lamp posts, and Daniel is glad he’d offered to walk Jihoon back. It can get pretty scary when you’re walking on the streets alone at night, so it’s all for the better.

“I never knew we had a playground in this neighbourhood,” Daniel gushes, running towards the swing set he spots along the street. 

Jihoon joins him seconds later, taking the swing beside him and starts pushing himself off the ground as well.

“It’s easy to miss things like these when you’re someone with no social life,” Jihoon teases.

“Shut up,” Daniel retorts, but he’s laughing. “It’s because all my friends are away for summer break. Otherwise, I’d be so popular you wouldn’t be able to reach me at all.”

That makes Jihoon laugh softly in response as well.

“Is that what’s going to happen? You’ll forget all about me when summer break ends?”

Daniel knows Jihoon means it as a joke, but he can’t help but notice the sad undertone about his statement. He slowly stops swinging and allows his momentum to slow down until his feet finally touch the ground and stop him completely.

“I’m not going to forget about you, what are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying,” Jihoon says.

“That won’t happen,” Daniel insists. “I might have to say goodbye to the kids, but not to you. We’ll find time to hang out, and you can come over for ramyun. And we’ll swing and talk shit about people at school.”

Daniel doesn’t know when the cute art boy he’d picked up at the museum started meaning so much to him, but it scares him to think that Jihoon is going to disappear from his life when summer leaves.

“My college is a distance away from here,” Jihoon sighs. “I stay at the dorms during the academic year.”

“And?” Daniel prompts. “That doesn’t mean anything to me. We’ll find a way.”

By now, Jihoon has stopped swinging as well and is just staring up at the sky. 

Daniel follows suit.

There isn’t a shooting star in the sky that passes by them right then – and Daniel knows it’s cheating, but he still makes a wish and hopes for it to come true.

_Please let Jihoon stay by my side._

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel knows there’s bound to be a day where he will crack; and all hell will break loose. It’s not humanely possible for anyone to be an absolute angel around four boisterous children and sometimes, Daniel just feels like he needs a break.

It happens on a sunny Monday afternoon. Other than feeling exhausted from staying up late the previous night to play his video games, Daniel can feel the summer heat getting to him. Sometimes, it’s so humid his head throbs.

“What’s wrong, Guanlin? You don’t want to eat?” Daniel probes, watching worriedly over the small boy in his seat who refuses to take a bite of his food.

Guanlin shakes his head no and gathers his head between his knees. Daniel knows there’s something wrong with Guanlin – because the boy has never, and he means never ever, rejected any form of food.

Daniel sighs as he hears Woojin start screaming from the playroom and wills it to go away. He doesn’t have the energy to deal with Woojin’s and Daehwi’s petty arguments right now, especially not when he has a child to feed.

“Do you want to tell me what’s wrong?” Daniel asks.

Again, Guanlin just shakes his head no and doesn’t speak a word.

Daniel knows he should ask Jihoon for some help, especially when Jihoon is only a few metres away from him. But he knows Jihoon is working hard, and doesn’t want to bother the other boy with something as trivial as this.

“Come on, Guanlin,” Daniel insists, pushing the spoon further towards Guanlin. “Just one scoop? I promise you’ll be able to go and play with your friends after this.”

As if on cue, Daehwi starts crying loudly from the other room.

“I don’t want to!” Guanlin yells before pushing Daniel’s spoon away and runs away. The food in the spoon topples over and Daniel lets out a frustrated groan as he goes to fetch the cloth to clean up the mess.

He’s halfway to grabbing the cloth when the noise from the playroom is too much to handle.

“What is going on?” Daniel can’t conceal his annoyance anymore as he pops into the playroom where he finds Woojin having Daehwi in a headlock. Jinyoung is trying to pull them apart, and Guanlin is crouching quietly in the corner.

“Stop!” Daniel hopes his loud voice is enough to stop the children from whatever the hell they’re up to but he’s wrong – they can’t hear him over Woojin’s yelling and Daehwi’s sobbing.

Daniel doesn’t like resorting to physical means, but he has no other choices left. He marches over to the tangled mess of limbs and forcefully pulls the three boys apart, shocking them.

“H-hyung,” Daehwi stutters, shocked when he sees how angry Daniel looks.

And Daniel understands, because he’s never lost his temper with them, even on his bad days. He’s always tried to keep his emotions in check to set a good example to the boys, and tries his utmost best to teach them lessons in the calmest way possible.

Unfortunately, they’ve gotten on Daniel’s nerves on the worst day.

“Can’t you guys play nice for once? You fight almost every day, is this how you treat your friends?” Daniel shouts, starting the boys.

The rowdy atmosphere from before disappears into thin air, and a deafening silence replaces it. 

It’s broken by Guanlin’s soft sobs, and Daniel knows he’s made a mistake when he sees a crystal-clear tear slide down Guanlin’s cheek. 

“Daniel?”

It’s a soft voice that takes Daniel’s attention off of the mess in front of him. In the midst of his confusing emotions, he turns to see Jihoon standing at the door of the playroom, looking shocked at the situation.

Daniel should go over and comfort Guanlin and apologise for shouting at him, he should kneel down to their eye levels and explain calmly why they shouldn’t be fighting. He should be the model babysitter.

Instead, he pushes past Jihoon and shuts the door to his bedroom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel feels terrible. Not only does his head hurt, his heart hurts as well. 

The guilt of making Guanlin cry for the first time is eating him up from the inside, and he swallows nervously when he thinks about how he has to explain this to Guanlin’s parents.

Woojin, Daehwi and Jinyoung saw how Daniel blew his top, and they looked terrified.

Daniel doesn’t want the kids to be afraid of him, he wants them to like him, to shower him with love he never knew he deserved. 

And now he’s ruined it all for them, for himself, and for Jihoon.

Then comes two knocks on his door and a, “It’s me. Can I come in?”

Daniel realises he’s taken Jihoon’s workspace away from him for the past hour and scrambles to his feet to open the door for the other boy. The children are nowhere to be seen behind Jihoon.

“Hey,” Jihoon smiles, and Daniel instantly feels a tad bit better.

Then he feels terrible again – because Jihoon must know how much of a jerk he is to lash out at the children over a trivial matter. 

“T-the kids?” Daniel tries to conceal his nervousness and play his feelings off as natural as possible, but ends up stuttering anyway.

“Don’t worry about them. I helped Woojin and Daehwi make up, and the four of them are playing with their toy cars right now,” Jihoon assures Daniel.

Of course, it has to be Jihoon who cleans up his mess in the end. Daniel bites down on his tongue, too embarrassed to explain himself.

“I’m so, so, sorry you had to see that side of me. I’m so tired and my head hurts, but I should have never taken it out on them,” Daniel’s head hangs low as he attempts to explain himself to Jihoon.

“Hey, Daniel. Look at me.”

Daniel, of course, complies. He lifts his head to look at Jihoon in the eyes.

“It’s okay, we all have bad days. It’s not your fault,” Jihoon continues. “We all need a break sometimes. Stay in here with me for a while, alright?”

Daniel nods and plops onto his bed again while Jihoon takes his seat at his usual work place. Daniel waits for Jihoon to pick up his pencil and continue sketching, but he doesn’t. Instead, he continues to stare at Daniel.

“What?” Daniel asks.

“Nothing,” Jihoon says, smiling softly to himself. “You kind of remind me of a puppy.”

“Me?” Daniel repeats and Jihoon nods his head, laughing merrily. “I can’t decide if that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“It’s a compliment, I promise,” Jihoon assures Daniel and does the last thing Daniel expects him to do right then. He reaches his right hand out and gently pats Daniel’s hair. 

Daniel can’t say he hates it, it actually feels kind of nice. Even his headache disappears for a moment. 

“Good boy,” Jihoon snickers, ruining the moment for both of them.

Daniel grabs Jihoon’s arm before he can pull away, and tugs Jihoon’s arm towards him. Jihoon lets out a surprised squeak as he falls onto the bed beside Daniel.

It’s weird to be lying down next to Jihoon, and Daniel momentarily forgets about the incident from earlier. All he wants to do now is to continue lying down next to Jihoon.

“Earth to Daniel,” Jihoon says. “Let go of my arm, please.”

“No,” Daniel retorts. “Not till you say sorry.”

“For what?”

“For comparing me to a dog!”

“I said, it’s a compliment!” 

“How so?”

Jihoon bites down on his lower lip, which for some reason sends Daniel’s heart into overdrive. Daniel doesn’t have the greatest eyesight, but he’s sure he sees a light pink colour reaching Jihoon’s cheeks as he waits for an answer.

Jihoon avoids Daniel’s gaze as his eyes shift from left to right.

“Well… dogs are pretty cute.”

“So, you think I’m cute?” Daniel doesn’t let Jihoon get away with it.

“No!” Jihoon replies, looking even more flustered than ever. “You asked why the comparison was a compliment, and I said it’s because dogs are cute so you… fuck. Forget it.”

“That’s pretty hot.”

“What is?”

“You cursing?”

“Shut the fuck up, then. Asshole.”

Daniel can tell Jihoon is getting too embarrassed for the conversation to continue, so he finally lets Jihoon’s arm go and sits up crossed-leg. 

Still, he’s not going to let Jihoon have the last word.

“Better not let the kids hear you, potty mouth.”

Jihoon opens his mouth to say something, which Daniel assumes, would be something not very PG but thankfully, he hears a soft knock on the bedroom door and rushes to open it. 

It’s the four boys, standing outside his door in a line with their heads bowed down on the floor.

“Hey,” Daniel’s voice cracks a little as he’s reminded of the unfortunate situation from before.

Unexpectedly, it’s Woojin who speaks first.

“I’m really, really, sorry, Niel hyung. I won’t fight with Daehwi anymore,” Woojin says. “Also, I won’t make so much noise. Please don’t be angry with me?”

It breaks Daniel’s heart to see Woojin blame it all on himself. Daniel immediately goes on his knees and puts his hands on Woojin’s shoulders. 

“Hey, buddy. It’s my fault for getting mad at you. I’m really sorry, okay? Will you forgive hyung?” Daniel asks hesitantly, afraid of the response he might receive from the other boy.

Contrary to his expectations, Woojin smiles – and his little snaggletooth shows. That’s when Daniel knows that everything is going to be okay.

“Fist bump?” Daniel smiles, holding his fist out to Woojin.

Woojin doesn’t hesitate to put his fist to Daniel’s.

That’s when the other boys crack and elope him in a hug. Daehwi pounces into Daniel’s embrace and Jinyoung and Guanlin cling onto his arms. 

“I’m sorry for not eating hyung. Just now the teacher gave me a piece of bread and I wasn’t hungry.”

“I’m sorry for fighting with Woojin, hyung. I won’t do it anymore.”

“I’m sorry, hyung. For making you angry.”

Daniel’s not a crier (unless he watches a movie in which a dog dies). But the outpour of emotions from his boys are too much to bear, and he lets a tear slide down his cheek. He can’t even wipe his tears away because Jinyoung and Guanlin won’t let go of his arms.

“Niel hyung? Are you crying? Look what you did, you made him cry!” Daniel hears Daehwi whine.

“It wasn’t me!” Woojin protests.

“Stop fighting! You’ll make Daniel hyung sad,” Jinyoung’s loud voice surprises Daniel and his other friends and they stop arguing immediately.

“That’s right,” Daniel sniffs, trying to stop his relieved tears from falling. He ruffles Jinyoung’s hair and adds, “I’ll get sad if you fight. So, let’s not fight anymore, alright?” The four boys nod and snuggle in closer to Daniel.

And Daniel doesn’t recall a time where he feels more loved than now.

“Hey! What about me?” Jihoon pipes up from the bed, and Daniel suddenly remembers that he’s been there the entire time, and holds out his arms as much as he can and replies, “Come here, grandma!”

Daniel sees Jihoon roll his eyes, but gets off the bed anyway and wraps his arms around Daniel’s waist from behind, snuggling his head right into Daniel’s neck.

When Daniel naturally turns his head to bury his nose into Jihoon’s hair (which just proves Jihoon’s point that he’s half dog) with a smile on his face, he’s suddenly aware of something.

_I like you._

Words that Daniel will probably never have the courage to say out loud, but resound loudly in his heart and only blow up when Jihoon lifts his head to smile at Daniel, stunning him for a few seconds.

_Yeah, I really, really like you._

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Level 10 on the scale of emergencies is reserved for emergencies involving a particular family member or friend,” Seongwoo says as he pops another popcorn into his mouth. He makes sure to turn and look at Daniel in the eyes when he says the next sentence.

“ _Not_ for crushes you can’t figure out.”

“It is a level 10 emergency,” Daniel insists, keeping his voice low although there’s no one else in the house except for Seongwoo, him and the other four boys who are playing peacefully in the playroom.

Jihoon said he had to help his mother out today, and apologised for not being able to be here. Daniel thinks it’s a blessing in disguise, because now that he’s been painfully made aware of his feelings, he just can’t seem to act normally around Jihoon anymore.

Just 3 days ago, he’d jumped out of his seat when Jihoon slung a friendly arm around his shoulder.

Only yesterday, he’d gone a very embarrassing shade of red when Jihoon jokingly referred to him as “baby” when they were playing house with Daehwi again.

“I’d say it’s a solid 3,” Seongwoo shrugs. “What’s the big deal?”

“You don’t get it,” Daniel says, gathering his knees between his arms. “I like Jihoon. Like, I like him in a way that I want to hold his hand and bring him to the movies and maybe-“

“Make out with him?” Seongwoo completes his sentence. “Yeah, Daniel. Last time I checked, those were called crushes. People have those, by the way.”

“It’s Jihoon,” Daniel repeats more for himself than for Seongwoo. “It’s so… weird.”

“How did you only figure it out a week ago?” Seongwoo sighs, propping his long legs onto the table. Daniel would have shouted at him if he didn’t need his best friend’s help right now. “It’s obvious you had a thing for him ever since you brought him back from the art museum.”

“That’s… not true,” Daniel trails off at the last part, because he can’t bring himself to object strongly to whatever Seongwoo is saying.

“You ditched me to have dinner with him,” Seongwoo says. “You joked about kissing him, then freaked out on me when he started acting weird with you. Daniel, you literally gave him an open invitation to come and hang out with you every day.” 

“That was for-“

“The kids?” Seongwoo snorts. “I’ve known you for years, Daniel. Your intentions could have never been that pure.”

When Seongwoo spells it out for Daniel, it makes perfect sense. 

Every time Daniel thinks Jihoon looks cuter in a different outfit than the day before, and every time he waits nervously for Jihoon to text him back, and every time his heart beats significantly faster when Jihoon so as much touches him, it’s all because he’s fallen – too far he doesn’t know where he started.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel likes to think he lives his life based on impulse decisions.

Where those decisions take him, he doesn’t know, and doesn’t care to brood over it for too long. His course in college was a good example of impulse decisions; and he thinks it turned out better than he’d expected in the end.

Now, his impulse decisions involve kicking Seongwoo out of his house after sending the boys off to their parents and taking a walk towards Jihoon’s house.

He kind of wishes he wouldn’t make so many impulse decisions – because some of them don’t end up so well.

Jihoon is standing at his front door, but he’s not alone.

There’s another boy, probably around the same height as Daniel, that gives Jihoon a hug at his front door. Daniel’s jaw clenches.

_Jealousy._

It’s laughable, that Daniel feels jealous over the most trivial things. He watches from a distance away, not daring to take a step forward. Jihoon then waves goodbye to the boy, and the boy waves back. They wave to each other until the other boy disappears to the other side of the street.

Daniel turns to go back home, when he catches Jihoon’s eye.

Jihoon freezes for a second, then breaks into a bright smile. And Daniel has no choice but to smile back and walk towards Jihoon’s front door.

“Hey, you,” Jihoon says when they meet in the middle. “What’s up?”

“Just taking an evening walk,” Daniel replies. He doesn’t know why he lies – when he very obviously does not take evening walks and the only reason he’s here is because he wants to see Jihoon.

“Huh,” Jihoon scoffs, folding his arms. “Kang Daniel, you are pretty unpredictable.”

The lack of predictableness comes as a package with his impulse decisions, Daniel thinks. 

“So, you ditched me and the children to go on a date with someone else?” it’s supposed to be a joke, but Daniel comes out sounding more bitter than he’d expected himself to be.

Jihoon looks confused for a moment, then realises what Daniel is talking about and chuckles. 

That’s when Daniel knows he’s fallen too deep, he doesn’t know where the surface is anymore. Even when Jihoon is giggling at Daniel’s obvious struggle, he thinks that Jihoon looks ethereal, especially with the golden rays of sunset making his skin glow.

“That’s Donghan.”

“Your friend?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon nods, fiddling with the hem of his shirt. “I kind of lied to you. I didn’t stay at home to help my mom out. I thought about what you said the other time about Donghan, and so I decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with him about how I felt about our friendship.”

“And?” 

When Jihoon smiles, Daniel is convinced that the sun isn’t the brightest thing in the sky,

“And you were right. I should never have doubted his intentions. He told me he never felt obligated to hang out with me, and that he genuinely likes me.”

Daniel opens his mouth to say something, when Jihoon cuts him off again.

“As a friend. He likes me as a friend.”

Daniel doesn’t know why, but he feels relieved. 

Seongwoo’s words echo in his mind. 

“You like him, stupid.”

“Well,” Daniel runs his fingers through his hair awkwardly, with nothing else to say after he’d completely mistaken an innocent hug as something else. “I told you so?”

Daniel doesn’t know if Jihoon makes impulse decisions either, but he doesn’t care if what Jihoon does next is on impulse, because his heart implodes into a million pieces when Jihoon wraps his arms around his waist.

Jihoon is at the perfect height to rest his head on Daniel’s shoulder, which is exactly what he does.

“Thank you, Daniel.”

“What for?”

“For making me happy.”

It’s vague, but somehow, Daniel gets it. This summer, he’s been happier than he’s ever remembered himself to be. He can’t put his finger on the reason, but it does have something to do with the boy hugging him right now.

Daniel knows what he wants.

He wants to cup Jihoon’s face in his hands, and kiss Jihoon on the lips and make Jihoon his.

All his life, he’s relied on making impulse decisions to see where they take him. And now he wonders why, for the life of him, he can’t make the decision to risk it all and just kiss Jihoon right now. 

“You deserve to be happy.”

The answer comes to him almost immediately.

It’s because Jihoon isn’t an impulse decision. Daniel wants to take his time, to think about whether he can really bring happiness to Jihoon for a long time. He doesn’t want to half ass this crush, he wants to make sure he’s a hundred percent sure about his feelings.

Because Jihoon is worth so much more than an impulse decision.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel really wishes he doesn’t have to be so clingy. He knows that Jihoon is having lunch with Donghan today, and doesn’t want to bother them. But he’s bored out of his mind and Jinyoung can’t stop asking him about where Jihoon is.

 

 

 **Daniel:** Are you coming over today? Jinyoung is asking for you.

 **Jihoon:** I’m coming over now! Just got off the bus near your house.

 

 

Daniel quickly glances out his window and sees dark, angry clouds gathering. A storm is about to hit.

 

 

 **Daniel:** Do you have an umbrella? It’s going to rain.

 **Jihoon:** No, but it’s okay! I brought my hoodie with me. :D  
**Jihoon:** Be there in a quickie, don’t worry about me!

 

 

 

 

Daniel sends a few more messages but Jihoon doesn’t open them, and he starts to worry as rain droplets start falling from the sky. Just then, a flash of lightning lights up the dark sky and a booming thunder follows. Rain starts pouring down relentlessly and Daniel knows a hoodie is not going to keep Jihoon dry.

He’s grabbing his umbrella even before he knows what he’s doing.

Daniel peeps inside the playroom and sees the four boys playing with toy animals together.

“I’m going out for a moment to get Jihoon hyung, alright? Promise me you’ll play nice,” Daniel says before glancing out worriedly at the rain that’s getting increasingly heavier.

“Sure, hyung!” Daehwi smiles and the other boys nod in agreement.

Daniel knows he really shouldn’t leave the four of them alone at home, but his mind is only clouded with thoughts of Jihoon getting drenched in the rain and rushes out of the house.

Thankfully, he sees his neighbour returning home just then.

“Hi, Mrs Choi,” Daniel greets the kind lady. “I really need to run an urgent errand. Is it okay if you keep an eye on the boys for me for just five minutes?”

Fortunately, Mrs Choi is an angel and agrees immediately, and Daniel rushes out of the building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The rain is so heavy, Daniel can barely see in front of him. He really hopes Jihoon isn’t planning to walk back in the rain. The bus stop is quite a distance from his apartment, but Daniel still keeps his eyes peeled for a certain boy in a hoodie.

When another flash of lightning strikes, he sees a black figure taking shelter at one of the nearby alley. There’s only a small shelter covering Jihoon’s head and Daniel’s legs take him to Jihoon as fast as possible.

“Hey, stupid,” Daniel says, a little out of breath, when he reaches Jihoon and holds the umbrella over his head.

Jihoon’s bangs are dripping wet and sticking to his face. Even then, Daniel still thinks he looks very breath-taking.

“I told you not to come for me,” Jihoon says.

“I knew you would try to pull this,” Daniel sighs and pulls Jihoon closer to him under the umbrella. He tilts the umbrella towards the other boy when he sees Jihoon shivering. 

“The rain wasn’t that strong when I left the bus stop. But it started getting really heavy halfway,” Jihoon attempts to explain but Daniel isn’t listening to him anymore. 

“Let’s go,” Daniel says, grabbing Jihoon’s hand. 

They walk back together in silence, and Daniel pushes Jihoon into the shower as soon as they get back into his apartment. He throws in a shirt he’s only worn twice and a pair of shorts. Jihoon shouts out a “thank you” but that is muffled by the shower sounds.

Quickly, Daniel goes to thank Mrs Choi for her help and decides to make a hot drink for Jihoon. 

After walking in the heavy rain, all the other boy needs is something to warm him up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Here,” Daniel says when Jihoon comes out of the bathroom and passes him the cup of hot chocolate. The shirt is a little big on Jihoon, but other than that, Jihoon looks fine. His nose is a little red from all the sneezing, but he smiles when he takes a gulp of the hot chocolate.

“Thank you,” Jihoon replies.

“Are you warm enough? You can grab the blankets from my room if you’re still cold,” Daniel says and goes forward to take the towel hanging around Jihoon’s neck and starts drying his hair. “Your hair is still wet. This is how you catch a cold.”

“Hot drinks and blankets do keep me warm and all but…”

“But what?” Daniel replies absentmindedly as he continues drying Jihoon’s hair.

“But I’d much rather have someone keep me warm with a hug instead.”

Daniel stops moving and glances down, to where Jihoon’s eyes are already looking at him. He half expects Jihoon to start laughing and joking about how shook Daniel looks right now. But Jihoon doesn’t move, and Daniel doesn’t know what to say in response either.

There’s no way Jihoon isn’t playing around with him right now. 

“And I wonder who that might be,” Daniel muses as he continues to dry Jihoon’s hair.

“Stop,” Jihoon suddenly sighs and takes the towel back from Daniel. “Thanks for the drink, Daniel.”

Without another word, Jihoon returns to the playroom, leaving Daniel and his confused heart alone.

_What did I do wrong?_

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Niel hyung has the cooties!” Woojin yells as he screams while running away from Daniel (who, out of the blue, has a burst of energy one Friday afternoon). Woojin jumps over the couch skilfully, while the other three follow in his footsteps and screech while running away from Daniel.

“I do not have the cooties!” Daniel retorts.

“You do!” Jinyoung yells back. Sometimes, Daniel misses the shy Jinyoung from weeks before. Now, Jinyoung doesn’t hold back with his comments. 

Daniel laughs aloud as he runs after the four boys with his hands in the air.

With Woojin, Daehwi, Jinyoung and Guanlin, Daniel feels young again. Although he’s out of breath and a little sweaty, it makes his heart happy to see them enjoying their time with him. Which is why he goes along with all of their jokes.

“Fine, don’t let me catch you or I’ll give you the cooties!” Daniel warns them.

Daniel skids to a stop in order not to collide into Jihoon and smiles sheepishly when Jihoon glares at him.

“Sorry, were we too loud?” Daniel asks, only remembering now that Jihoon has been working hard for a few hours. “Then again, you could use a break.”

“Couldn’t miss out on the cooties,” Jihoon replies with a laugh.

“Jihoon hyung!” Jinyoung yells as he pulls Jihoon away from Daniel and says, “You can’t go near Niel hyung, or he’ll pass you the cooties.”

“Will he?” Jihoon side eyes Daniel, who signals to Jihoon that he’s way too exhausted to continue running around the house. Jihoon thankfully, takes the cue and ushers the four boys back into their playroom while Daniel plops onto the couch and buries his face into the pillow, too tired to move a limb.

When Jihoon returns, the couch dips down and Daniel lifts his head to see Jihoon sitting beside him.

“I’m surprised the neighbours haven’t lodged a noise complaint,” Jihoon comments.

“Yeah, because they love me too much,” Daniel responds without skipping a beat. “Do you want to watch a movie? You can pick it out today.”

“Of course I will be, because I’m not going to sit through another marathon of Harry Potter movies,” Jihoon sighs and goes to turn the television on. 

Daniel sits up to make space for Jihoon. It’s almost a habit now, for Jihoon to take the place on the right of Daniel. He especially likes when Jihoon leans his head on his shoulder every time they watch a movie, which is why he loves asking Jihoon to watch a film with him.

Once Jihoon finishes picking a show, he jumps into the spot beside Daniel and naturally snuggles close to him. 

“Is it a chick flick? If it is, I’m going to play with the kids,” Daniel jokes, and scoffs at himself because deep down, he knows he’ll never give up watching a movie to play with the four boys for anything.

“Shut up,” Jihoon mumbles, already focused on the movie.

Daniel decides to try something new. Slowly, his arm shifts from the headrest of the couch to around Jihoon’s shoulder. 

Daniel hopes Jihoon can’t hear his racing heart right now, because it would be really embarrassing if he did. Instead, Jihoon doesn’t say a word about Daniel’s hand and keeps his eyes peeled on the movie.

He can’t help it, the movie Jihoon picks out is boring and he can’t stop thinking about how cute Jihoon looks today.

It’s really nothing special, Jihoon has a striped shirt tucked into his light blue denim shorts. It’s an outfit Daniel has seen twice, but it still makes his heart beat fast like it’s the first time. 

He can hear Seongwoo saying “keep it in your pants” when his hand slides down even further to circle Jihoon’s waist.

That’s when he hears Jihoon say something softly.

“Stop.”

“What?” Daniel asks, looking at Jihoon, who is still keeping his eyes on the television.

“Stop it,” Jihoon repeats. “Don’t do that. It confuses me.”

“Do what?” Daniel asks dumbly again. “How am I confusing you?”

Suddenly, Jihoon shifts to the right and puts a space between them which makes Daniel feel very, very unhappy. He even dislodges Daniel’s arm from around his waist and crosses his arms.

“I’ve had enough of you,” Jihoon snaps, which shocks Daniel. He’s never seen the boy frustrated once in his lives, and he’s definitely never been snapped at by Park Jihoon. 

When Jihoon’s brows furrow together, Daniel still thinks he looks cute.

“Are you really that oblivious that you are completely unaware of the fact that I have been trying my best to flirt with you, Kang Daniel?”

Daniel blinks. Once, twice, and then says, “You what?”

“Ugh,” Jihoon groans as he closes his eyes and massages his temples in frustration. “You are unbelievable. I don’t want to deal with you right now.”

Jihoon stands up to leave Daniel alone to watch the remainder of the show but Daniel’s arm instinctively reaches out to grip onto Jihoon’s wrist. 

“Don’t leave,” Daniel sounds desperate. He has no idea why Jihoon is acting up just like the previous time after the thunderstorm. “Explain to me why you’re mad at me.”

“You really want to know?”

Daniel nods.

“Fine. I’ll say it, I like you, Kang Daniel. I’ve liked you for a pretty long time now. And I don’t just like you in a friend sort of way; I like you in the way that I want to be more than friends.”

Daniel’s jaw hangs open in shock at Jihoon’s confession but he doesn’t let go of Jihoon’s wrist. 

_Jihoon likes him?_

Is this some kind of elaborate joke Jihoon is trying to play on him? Because Daniel doesn’t think it’s funny to say the least.

“Y-you like me?” 

“I come here every day even though I don’t have to. I’ve been trying to tell you through my actions that I do like you because my ego is too big for me to spell it out for you,” Jihoon sighs defeatedly. “But since I’m at it, I’ll say it again-“

Jihoon takes another deep breath.

“-I like you, alright? So don’t give me false hope by watching movies with me and hugging me and making me feel things I shouldn’t since you don’t even like me that way. It confuses me, and I don’t like it.”

Daniel swears he can hear a pin drop right there and then. 

I like you, Kang Daniel.

If this is a dream, Daniel doesn’t want to wake up. Jihoon is still staring at him in the eyes and he can feel his chest tighten up. Jihoon has been trying to tell Daniel what he’s been waiting for the entire time, he’s just been too blind to see it for himself.

Daniel gathers courage from Jihoon’s confession to lace their fingers together. Jihoon flinches and glares at Daniel, “This is what I mean. You don’t even like me, but you keep doing things like these that confuse me-“

“I don’t know who you’re calling oblivious, because you’re definitely blind if you can’t see how in love I am with you.”

“What the fuck are you even saying-“ Jihoon rolls his eyes for a second then stops mid-sentence to meet Daniel’s gaze again. “You what?”

This entire situation is so funny to him, and Daniel giggles. He can’t help it, his lips are naturally curling upwards as he watches Jihoon get annoyed with him.

“I mean I like you too, dummy.”

“Don’t play games with me right now,” Jihoon warns him, now looking completely flustered as Daniel starts pulling him closer until their knees are touching. 

Daniel is still sitting down on the couch, looking back up at Jihoon whose ears have now flushed red – and he really wonders how oblivious he must have been to the other boy’s feelings to have to force the words out of someone like Jihoon.

“I’m not playing games,” Daniel assures Jihoon as he runs his thumb over Jihoon’s knuckles. “Is it so hard to believe that I have a crush on you too?”

“You are so pretty,” Daniel gushes, the words coming easily to him now that he knows his feelings have been reciprocated. He sees a light pink blush reaching Jihoon’s cheek and beams. He did that – he made Jihoon feel this way. 

“You drive me crazy,” he continues to say, the words confined to his mind from before all escaping his mouth like a waterfall now. “I was so afraid of losing you, which was why I took forever to say this – but I like you too, Park Jihoon.”

When Jihoon gives Daniel a shy smile, his instinct takes over and Daniel tugs Jihoon closer to him, causing the boy to trip and fall nicely right onto his lap.

“Woah,” Jihoon squeaks out of surprise and reaches out to steady himself by placing his hands on Daniel’s shoulders. When he sees the smug smirk on Daniel’s face, he slaps Daniel’s right thigh and says, “What do you think you’re doing right now?”

“You wanted this too, don’t act coy with me,” Daniel teases, moving his hands down to Jihoon’s waist, appreciating how nicely Jihoon’s frame fits into his hands.

It’s been a while since Daniel has seen Jihoon’s face so close up, and he takes the time to appreciate every mole on his face, and the way his long eyelashes make him so much more beautiful. He memorises Jihoon’s face, just in case he has to wait to see this again.

“May I?” Jihoon asks, running his finger over Daniel’s lips and that enough is enough to break Daniel.

He nods, and Jihoon closes the gap between their lips. 

Daniel doesn’t want to know how Jihoon is so good at this – but he is. Jihoon doesn’t give Daniel what he really wants at first, choosing to attack Daniel’s bottom lip first, eliciting a frustrated whine from Daniel, making Jihoon smirk.

That’s when Daniel knows he’s fallen too deep for Satan’s spawn himself.

“Stop playing around,” Daniel groans into their kiss but only gets a “relax” back from Jihoon.

Jihoon’s hands move to cup Daniel’s face as he finally deepens the kiss, and Daniel can’t help but push Jihoon closer to him from the back. Their chests bump against each other and Daniel wishes time could stop and they could remain like this forever.

They only break apart when there is a blood-curling scream coming from the playroom. Both of them part immediately, glancing worriedly towards the source only to find the Woojin and Daehwi looking scandalized and Jinyoung covering his and Guanlin’s eyes.

“Uh… hey buddy-“ Daniel says, out-of-breath from that intense kiss he’d just shared with Jihoon, but still attempting to explain to four five-year-olds why Jihoon was on his lap and why they were making out, but Woojin is the first to bolt.

“Daniel hyung gave Jihoon hyung the cooties!” Woojin screams, the other three following.

The yelling doesn’t stop for a while and this time, Daniel is afraid he might actually receive a noise complaint soon. 

“Hey,” Jihoon’s voice breaks his thoughts and he suddenly remembers that the most beautiful world in the boy is sitting on his lap and they’ve just made out so he manages a smile, and replies, “Hey yourself.”

“We good?” Jihoon asks, looking worried.

“Of course,” Daniel says, wondering why Jihoon looks so nervous. He stretches his neck to press a light kiss onto Jihoon’s temple (he’s always wanted to do that) and adds, “I’ll go check on the boys, alright?”

Jihoon nods, but none of them move from their position.

“Do you want to stay over for dinner tonight?” Daniel asks.

Finally, Jihoon smiles and replies, “Yes, please.”

Daniel gives in to the temptation and wraps his arms around Jihoon’s waist again, bringing the other boy into his embrace.

“This is for that time I didn’t hug you to keep you warm.”

“Good,” Jihoon mumbles into the crook of his neck, still sounding a little bitter about that moment.

So, when Daniel breaks away, he says, “Don’t worry. I’ll make it up to you from now on.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel doesn’t know how the four boys are going to react when they see him and Jihoon waiting for them outside their kindergarten the next day. Even though he’d tried talking to them about the *incident* the previous day, he knows Jihoon and he have probably traumatized them forever.

When Jihoon shifts uncomfortably next to Daniel, he intertwines their fingers and they share a knowing smile.

“What’s up?” Daniel asks.

“I just don’t want this,” Jihoon stares pointedly at their hands and continues, “to change anything between us and the kids. What if they think we’re weird? I know you love them a lot, I just hope-“

“It’s going to be fine,” Daniel assures Jihoon before the other boy can continue rambling. “I trust them, they’re good kids. This won’t change anything. We’ll be okay.”

Although Daniel tries to be strong for the sake of Jihoon, he himself feels the nerves right down to his bones. 

The anticipation of the reaction of the boys isn’t the only thing that is making Daniel nervous today. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a few parents baring holes into them with their stares. He pretends not to see them, but he knows Jihoon is aware of them to, which is why he tries to squirm out of Daniel’s grip.

“You don’t want to hold my hand?” Daniel pouts, not letting Jihoon go.

“It’s not that,” Jihoon sighs, his gaze shifting from left to right. “I don’t want anyone to think badly of you.”

“And why would they, when I have such a pretty boyfriend?” Daniel sing-songs, bringing a smile to Jihoon’s face. That alone is enough, he doesn’t have to care about the opinions of others. He’s happy, and that’s all that matters.

“Oh? Jihoon hyung, you’re here to pick us up today!” Jinyoung’s voice finally takes away some tension that’s hanging in the air, and Daniel beams when he sees Jinyoung diving into Jihoon’s now open arms.

“Daniel hyung said you guys would like it more if I came here to fetch you,” Jihoon explains, making it a point to smile at Daniel right after he says that. “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” Jinyoung replies, not letting go of Daniel.

Shortly after, Woojin and Daehwi appear and greet Jihoon happily as well. Guanlin arrives last, with a chocolate bar in his hand, and Daniel ruffles his hair. They link hands, and set off on their way.

“Excuse me,” Daniel hears someone calling out to him and stops in his tracks. He turns around to see a smartly-dressed man following behind him and recognises him as one of the people who were sending dirty looks towards him and Jihoon earlier.

His wife is standing a distance away, holding who Daniel assumes to be their son and observing the scene from a distance away.

“Can I help you?” Daniel frowns, because he has a bad feeling about what’s to come. (not because he’s naturally rude.)

“Forgive me if I’m being too nosy right now, but I figured I had to step up to protect the children,” the man explains as he pushes up his glasses.

By now, there’s quite a crowd that has gathered around them. Jihoon quickly takes the four boys into his embrace and tries calming Jinyoung, who looks very intimidated by the man.

“I’m their babysitter,” Daniel explains, jaw clenching. “You can ask their teachers. Arrangements have already been made with their parents. Is there a problem with that?”

“That’s not what I meant,” the man scoffs as he shakes his head. He points to Jihoon and gets straight to the point, “You guys are a couple, aren’t you?”

Jihoon’s eyes grow wide at the sudden accusation, but keeps silent.

“What’s it to you?” Daniel snaps. 

“I’m not against people like you or anything, but I don’t think children should have to experience being cared for by someone who is a little… different. I’m just worried for their future, who knows if they could end up like you two next time?”

The man’s words are like a slap to Daniel’s face and for a moment, he doesn’t even have the ability to form a response. He can feel the anger boiling in his stomach but wills himself not to lose it in front of so many people.

“Niel hyung,” he hears Woojin call out from behind him. He turns to see Woojin glaring at the man and he adds, “Let’s go. This uncle is really weird and Jinyoung is scared.”

It’s really all Daniel needs to make a decision. He doesn’t need to prove anything to the man or anyone else around him. 

He feels a small hand tugging on the hem of his shirt, and looks down to see Daehwi standing beside him.

“Niel hyung, let’s go home.”

“Alright,” Daniel says, gently ruffling Daehwi’s hair because he can see that the younger boy looks very uncomfortable with this entire situation. “Let’s go home.”

“With Jihoon hyung too,” Guanlin adds from behind.

And that is enough – just having Jihoon and the four boys support him in their own way. Daniel grabs Daehwi’s and Woojin’s (who has now shifted to stand beside Daniel) hands and smiles at the man.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be,” Daniel replies with the sweetest smile on his face he can manage. “Thanks for the concern, but as you can see for yourself, I think we’ll get along just fine. Maybe you should worry about your own family instead.”

Without another word, he turns to where Jihoon is waiting with the other two boys.

“Ready, babe?” Daniel makes sure to say loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Yeah,” Jihoon beams, and even pecks Daniel on his right cheek.

“Hyung, do that at home,” Woojin sighs, pulling Daehwi away. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel volunteers to cook lunch for all of them while Jihoon plays with the boys in the playroom. On the way back home, none of them mention anything about the unpleasant encounter back at school. 

Woojin and Daehwi bicker as per usual, and Jinyoung warms up to Jihoon again. Guanlin, of course, finishes his chocolate bar and begs Daniel for another one. (he promises to give Guanlin one after he finishes his lunch.)

When he finishes his lunch, he walks over to the playroom to gather everyone.

“Jihoon hyung, do you like Daniel hyung?” he hears Daehwi ask and stops in his footsteps, not wanting to interrupt. He waits outside the playroom, and although he knows he shouldn’t be eavesdropping, he just can’t help himself.

“I like him very, very, much,” he hears Jihoon reply, which sends a bunch of butterflies into his stomach.

There is silence for a moment, when Jihoon speaks up again.

“Does it bother you? That you know… we are both boys?” Jihoon asks hesitantly.

Again, silence.

“Niel hyung is a really nice person,” he hears Woojin say. “He plays with me all the time, and doesn’t get mad even when I destroy his things. I like him too.”

“Yeah!” he hears Guanlin quip. “Niel hyung gives me a lot of food. And his cooking skills are amazing, I really like him too!”

“Niel hyung makes me laugh even when I’m feeling sad,” Jinyoung admits. Although he can’t get a good view of the children’s expressions right now, he knows they’re smiling as they say this, and a warm feeling bubbles in his chest.

“Mom says it’s okay for boys to like boys,” Daehwi finally says. “But make sure you take of Niel hyung for us, okay, Jihoon hyung?”

Daniel knows the boys would never say this when he’s in the room, so he stays outside for just a little while more to appreciate this moment.

“I will,” Jihoon replies.

“And if Niel hyung bullies you, tell me,” Daniel hears Jinyoung say, “I’ll teach him a lesson.”

That makes Daniel laugh out loud, and then he freezes as he realises he’s blown his cover. It’s too late for him to run away because Woojin is faster to poke his head out and yell, “Niel hyung! You weren’t supposed to listen!”

“I didn’t hear anything!” Daniel lies, although when he meets Jihoon’s eyes, they share a knowing smile and Jihoon knows that Daniel has been listening in to their conversation the whole time.

“Let’s punish him,” Jihoon suggests.

Daniel’s jaw hangs open from the shock of being betrayed by Jihoon.

“You are my boyfriend,” Daniel trashes to get out of Woojin’s and Jinyoung’s grip, but damn they’ve gotten so strong, he can’t move his legs anymore.

“I know,” Jihoon smiles, tip-toeing to kiss Daniel on his nose and adds, “Which is why I’m doing this for you.”

Daniel doesn’t have time to protest before he’s pushed onto the ground by the five kids (including Jihoon) and ambushed by a tickle attack. 

The food is getting cold, but Daniel has a feeling that none of them are going to mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“You’d make a really good dad,” Jihoon says one day when Daniel is lying down on his bed attempting to take a nap after sending the boys off to their parents and Jihoon is sitting on his chair, working on his sketches.

Daniel springs up from his lying down position to look at Jihoon.

“Did you mean that literally or are you confessing your kinks to me right now?”

“Oh my god,” Jihoon groans into his hands and when he lifts his head to look at Daniel again, his scandalized expression sends Daniel into a fit of giggles. “You are impossible. You’re going to corrupt the boys sooner or later.”

“Am not,” Daniel retorts.

“I meant that literally,” Jihoon says after a few seconds of comfortable silence are shared between them. “You’d make a really good father in the future.”

“And what makes you think so?” Daniel lies on his side and props his head up using his elbow. He loves looking at Jihoon like this.

“You play well with them, and you can cook, and you know exactly how to cheer them up when they’re feeling down.”

“Alright, Park Jihoon. I get it, you’re in love with me.”

Daniel doesn’t react fast enough and gets a pillow thrown in his face. He removes the pillow from his face and Jihoon jumps into the space next to him.

“Idiot,” Jihoon grumbles, hitting Daniel again with a different pillow. “I was trying to be serious.”

“Fine,” Daniel replies, holding his hands up in surrender. “I think you’d make a really good father as well. Want to start a family with me?”

Jihoon tries to look serious, but breaks into a smile after a moment.

“You are impossible.”

Daniel takes the chance to flip himself over and lie on top of Jihoon. 

“You’re suffocating me, get off, you big goon,” Jihoon protests as he tries pushing Daniel off, but Daniel doesn’t move an inch.

“No, I’m comfortable here,” Daniel replies, lying his head on Jihoon’s chest.

When they fall silent again, Daniel can hear Jihoon’s beating heart in his ears, making him smile. It’s nice to know that he’s the one making Jihoon feel all these sorts of emotions, and he wants to continue making Jihoon feel this way forever.

Daniel’s about to drift off to dreamland when Jihoon says, “I think I’d really like that.”

“Hm?” Daniel hums from his half-awake state. “Like what?”

“Starting a family with you.”

Daniel lifts his head to cup Jihoon’s face in his hands, and God, his cheeks look so squishy in like that. 

“You really mean that?”

“Not now, I mean. But in the near future, if it’s with you, I think I would really like that.”

_If it’s with you._

Daniel plants a big kiss on Jihoon’s face, enjoying Jihoon’s flushed face that follows after.

“Anything is alright if I’m doing it with you,” Daniel replies, sliding off Jihoon and onto the position beside him. 

Daniel doesn’t need a response from Jihoon – he thinks that the way Jihoon buries his head into the crook of his neck when he pulls Jihoon closer to him is enough of an indication that he feels the same way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No amount of preparation can prepare Daniel for the big day. Deep down, he’s always known this day would come, he’s just been so afraid to face this moment that he’s never talked about it to anyone.

Daniel starts school on Monday, which means that today is his official last day with the four boys. 

Although he wants to enjoy and give the boys fond memories to take with them on their journey, he just can’t bring himself to smile today.

Even though it’s only been a little over two months, he notices the significant growth in the four children. They’ve all grown physically and mentally. Daehwi’s hands feel a little bigger in his now, and Guanlin is growing faster than he should.

“Niel hyung, you’re so quiet today,” Daehwi squeezes Daniel’s hand and says as they walk home together after school.

_For the last time._

“Did you fight with Jihoon hyung?” Daehwi adds after Daniel only offers him a smile in return.

“No, no,” Daniel protests, sharing a smile with Jihoon who is talking with Woojin and Jinyoung on the other side of the pavement. “We didn’t fight. I’m just feeling a little sad today.”

Daehwi doesn’t say anything in return, but Daniel notices that the boy does hold his hand a little tighter than usual today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Do they know?” Jihoon’s voice shocks Daniel from absentmindedly stirring the fried rice in the pan. He yelps and suddenly smells something burning from the pent.

“I burnt the rice!” he groans as he tries to salvage their lunch.

Jihoon only observes him from a distance, and when he sees that Daniel has everything under control, he circles his arms around Daniel’s waist.

“What are you doing?” Daniel sighs. “You know I won’t be able to concentrate when you’re pulling tricks like these.”

“I’m comforting you,” Jihoon explains. “You’re sad, aren’t you?”

Daniel knows that Jihoon knows it’s their last day on the job. He’s mentioned it to Jihoon only once, but he never expected Jihoon to be able to see through his pretence. Daniel sighs and turns the fire from the stove off.

“I’m supposed to be happy,” he says in a voice softer than a whisper. “It’s just really, really, hard to say goodbye.”

“But it’s not goodbye,” Jihoon replies, “You’re going to see them again soon.”

And he knows, he understands what Jihoon means. But this entire summer vacation, he’s done nothing but dedicate his time to caring for the four boys – and now he can’t imagine having to return to an empty apartment with no one screaming or pulling his hair.

“I’ll ask them to come out,” Jihoon says when Daniel stays silent. He gently pats Daniel’s back for encouragement and disappears out of the kitchen.

Daniel smiles as he distributes the food into four kid bowls for the last time.

_It’s not goodbye._

He’s not going to cry, not today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Niel hyung, are you crying?” Daehwi hesitantly asks when they’re at the door.

Yup, Operation Do Not Cry has been terminated. 

“No, I’m not,” Daniel sniffs as he wipes his tears away with his arm.

Jihoon sighs and kneels down next to Daehwi, sharing a knowing look with Daehwi’s mother that says, “Daniel didn’t tell Daehwi.” 

“Daehwi, today is the last day that you’ll come to Daniel hyung’s house after school. Daniel hyung and I need to go back to school, and we won’t have time to play with you anymore.”

It hurts to have Jihoon spell it out for Daniel, but he’s glad that Jihoon is doing the explaining for him. Otherwise, he would have to deal with the second-hand embarrassment after.

“Oh,” is all Daehwi says as he lowers his gaze to the ground.

Wordlessly, Daehwi steps forward to give Daniel a hug.

“Thank you, hyung,” Daehwi smiles. “For taking care of me. You’re the best hyung I could ever ask for. And Jihoon hyung, too.”

Daniel manages to ruffle Daehwi’s hair one last time before Daehwi disappears from his apartment, hand linked tightly with his mother’s. 

_One down, three to go._

Daniel thinks he can manage saying goodbye without having another breakdown, because all the children do when Jihoon breaks the news to them is give him a tight hug. Honestly, Daniel feels better sending them off with a smile.

Jinyoung takes the initiative to give Daniel a peck on his cheek – which is something he’s never gotten out of any of the boys before. And from the way Jihoon raises his eyebrows at Daniel, it tells him that maybe Jinyoung hasn’t kissed Jihoon yet.

“Bye hyung,” Jinyoung mumbles, embarrassed after giving Daniel a kiss. He waves goodbye to Daniel until the lift doors close.

Daniel knows he shouldn’t be showing favouritism, but he gives Guanlin a bag full of gummies that he has stashed under his bed. 

After all, he does have to give them away because he’s going to move back to the dorms at school. So why not give them to someone who’s going to appreciate it.

Guanlin beams when Daniel hands him the bag of gummies.

“You’re the best, hyung!” Guanlin yells as he gives Daniel a big hug. 

“Sure,” Daniel says, ruffling Guanlin’s hair. “Make sure to treat me to a meal when you’re old enough.”

Guanlin giggles at that, and leaves soon enough.

“That leaves Tiny Terror,” Daniel sighs when Guanlin is gone. “And then we’re done for the day.”

Jihoon chuckles at the overused nickname for Park Woojin and asks, “Do you want me to go get him?”

Daniel shakes his head, “No, I’ll get him.”

Woojin is playing with his toy cars when Daniel returns to the playroom. He looks peaceful, to say the least. Daniel has seen too many sides of Woojin, he isn’t sure which one he prefers anymore. Woojin lifts his head and smiles, his snaggletooth showing, when he notices Daniel watching him.

“Do you want to play with me, hyung?” he asks, holding up a toy car.

“No,” Daniel shakes his head. “Your mother is coming to fetch you now. Let’s pack up and we can leave together.”

“No,” Woojin says, lowering his gaze as Daniel kneels down to help Woojin pack the toy cars.

“What?” Daniel looks at Woojin, wondering if the boy is really going to give him a hard time when they’re spending their last day together.

What he doesn’t expect is to see a single tear sliding down Woojin’s cheek.

“What’s wrong, Woojin? Are you hurt somewhere?” Daniel panics, scrambling to hold Woojin in his arms because he knows that Woojin never, ever, cries.

Woojin sniffs as he tries to hide his tears from Daniel, mumbling something along the lines of, “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay here and play with you.”

“But all your friends have gone home,” Daniel tries to reason calmly with Woojin, but he can feel himself choking up as well. “Let’s go, okay?”

Despite his unwillingness, Woojin lets Daniel hoist him up on his feet and holds his hand all the way to the front door where he sees Woojin’s parents waiting for them. 

Jihoon giggles when he sees Daniel entering the room with Woojin, both boys moments away from sobbing. Woojin’s nose is already red, and Daniel is trying his best to contain his tears.

“Listen to your parents, okay?” Daniel says as he kneels down to meet Woojin’s eye level. “And be nice to Daehwi, don’t fight with him anymore. You’re the leader, so make sure Guanlin eats his meals and Jinyoung isn’t sad, okay?”

That sets another stream of tears to fall down Woojin’s face, which breaks Daniel’s heart but makes him laugh at the same time because Woojin is so, so, cute.

“Fist bump,” Daniel says, holding out his fist.

Woojin dodges Daniel’s fist bump and pounces into his arms instead.

“Gosh,” Daniel groans jokingly. “You’ve gotten heavy.”

“I love you, Niel hyung,” he hears Woojin mumble into his shoulder.

“Love you too, buddy,” Daniel gives Woojin one last tight hug before handing him off to his parents. Woojin doesn’t break their eye-contact until they pile into the lift and the doors close, leaving Daniel’s apartment emptier and lonelier than before.

“That’s that,” Daniel sighs as he plops onto the couch.

For some reason, he feels more tired today.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Jihoon asks when he stands beside Daniel, crossing his arms and pretending to look upset.

“Am I?” Daniel repeats with a smile on his face, knowing fully well what Jihoon wants.

Jihoon rolls his eyes, and Daniel pulls him down onto the couch and attacks Jihoon’s lips. 

At the very least, he has something to look forward to today.

“Stop it, you animal,” Jihoon giggles, holding his palm out to Daniel’s chest to put some distance between them. “I meant my pay, I deserve half of the money you get for helping you out.”

“You’re right,” Daniel says, giving in to the temptation to peck Jihoon all over his face.

He thinks Jihoon looks the best like this, face flushed and out-of-breath. 

“I’ll give it to you later,” Daniel manages to mumble through their kisses.

“Instead of money, why don’t you repay me with something else?” Jihoon suggests when he finally gets Daniel off him. 

Daniel’s eyes light up.

“Like what?”

“A date,” Jihoon says. “Go on a date with me tomorrow. And the day after.”

A smile tugs at the end of Daniel’s lips as he cups Jihoon’s face in his hands again.

“As if you had to ask.”

When Jihoon returns his smile and runs his fingers through Daniel’s hair, Daniel lifts the other boy up in his arms bridal style and carries him to his room.

“What are you doing?” Jihoon narrows his eyes at Daniel when he drops Jihoon on his bed.

“I just remembered,” Daniel smiles dumbly as he joins Jihoon on the bed. “There is one good thing about not having the children over anymore.”

Jihoon’s scandalized screams aren’t going to stop Daniel from pampering his cute boyfriend tonight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I regret everything,” Jihoon groans when Daniel bounds into a kid’s toy shop for the nth time that day. Still, he lets Daniel pull him into the shop without much complaints.

“I don’t see get it,” Jihoon says when he finds Daniel at the toy car section after his boyfriend had mysteriously disappeared from his side.

Daniel smiles as he picks out a model he knows Woojin doesn’t have yet.

“Get what?” he replies Jihoon, who looks amused as Daniel puts his all into choosing presents for the children.

“How you could get that babysitting job. It’s like having a child take care of four other children,” Jihoon sighs as he watches Daniel wander off further into the puzzles section, mumbling something about how he thinks Jinyoung would love to fix a puzzle piece.

Daniel doesn’t know when he’s going to get to see the boys again – all he knows is that it’s been one day ever since they said goodbye and he misses them already.

“I’m not a child,” Daniel protests.

“Sure,” Jihoon rolls his eyes. “I have to be at the train station at 5.”

Daniel drops the toys in his hand, “I thought you were leaving tomorrow?”

“The trains are fully booked tomorrow. I’m only going to make it to school on time if I leave tonight,” Jihoon explains, looking guilty that he’s only breaking the news to Daniel now.

Daniel suddenly isn’t in the mood to shop for toys anymore.

“That’s in four hours,” Daniel says softly. “That’s not enough time for us to spend together.”

Jihoon smiles sadly as he wraps his arms around Daniel’s waist, “It’s not like I’m going anywhere far. It’s just an hour’s train journey from here.”

“But I’m going to miss you,” Daniel whines as he buries his face into Jihoon’s hair. 

He’s going to miss how nice Jihoon smells. He’s going to miss wondering if Jihoon is going to wear his glasses when he comes over to Daniel’s house the next morning. He’s going to miss having Jihoon around.

“I know,” Jihoon replies. “But let’s make the most out of the time we have, okay?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

The time that they have isn’t enough, Daniel decides. 

After following Jihoon to fetch his bag from home, he tags along until they reach the train station. Daniel knows Jihoon has to go, but he can’t bring himself to let go of Jihoon’s hands.

“Call me,” Daniel says weakly as people rush past them.

“I will,” Jihoon assures. “Every opportunity that I get.”

“Don’t get a hot boyfriend,” Daniel pouts. “Or I’ll be heart-broken and I’ll never be able to face the boys again.”

That makes Jihoon laugh, and Daniel’s heart aches at the thought of not being able to hear it anymore for a few months.

“Dumbass,” Jihoon giggles as he playfully hits Daniel’s shoulder. “I already have a hot boyfriend here, why would I need another one?”

Daniel knows he conveys his feelings through actions rather than words, so he pulls Jihoon into his embrace and rests his head on Jihoon’s shoulder although it should be the other way around. But he feels safe in Jihoon’s arms – so he keeps it there.

“I love you,” Jihoon whispers.

“Love you too,” Daniel doesn’t hesitate to say back. “Eat your meals, and take your breaks. Or I’ll have to take a train down and whop your ass in front of all your friends.”

“There are many other things I’d much rather you do to my ass,” Jihoon chuckles, pulling away to tiptoe and place a big kiss on Daniel’s lips. “Make sure you take care of yourself too.”

Daniel nods, and finally says, “You should go. You don’t want to miss your train.”

“I should,” Jihoon says in response, their hands only linked together by their pinkies now.

“Think of me,” Daniel smiles, letting Jihoon go first, because he doesn’t want to torture the other boy by making him say goodbye first. 

“I will,” Jihoon nods. 

Jihoon takes a deep breath and starts walking away from Daniel. He takes out his card, and taps into the station.

Now that a barrier is separating them, Daniel finally feels that this is real.

“Bye!” Jihoon manages to yell out one more time before the crowd engulfs the small boy and Daniel loses sight of him.

Daniel thinks of going home to order takeout and cry while watching some television but decides against it. Jihoon wouldn’t want him to do that to himself, so he whips out his phone.

 

 

 

 

 **Daniel:** Do you want to have dinner?

 **Seongwoo:** Fuck you. Now that your boyfriend is gone, you’re going to come crawling back to me? You think I’m that desperate to say yes?  
**Seongwoo:** But yes, I’m lonely. Let’s have dinner.

 **Daniel:** Great, see you at the usual.

 

 

 

 

There’s a smile that Daniel can’t get rid of even if his heart hurts when he walks out of the train station alone. He knows that Jihoon is somewhere, missing him as well. 

Daniel might walk out of the train station alone, but he’s also the same man that walked out of this summer vacation with sick babysitting skills and a boy he can’t wait to call when he gets home. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_2 months after_

“Hyung, I’m hungry!”

“I know, Guanlin. But you have to be quiet for a little while more because we have to surprise Jihoon hyung together. And it’s not going to be a surprise if he hears us.”

“But why are we trying to surprise Jihoon hyung?”

“Because, Daehwi, he’s going to be so happy when he sees us.”

“Oh.”

Daniel shushes the kids as he hears footsteps coming down the hallway and holds his breath when he hears someone unlocking the door. He’s half positive that’s Jihoon, because he’d met Donghan earlier, and he had said Jihoon would be finishing up soon.

“Surprise!” Woojin yells, a little off-beat when the door opens and someone fiddles for the lights.

“You spoiled the surprise, dummy!” Daehwi yells, throwing a pillow at Woojin. “We’re supposed to say ‘surprise’ only when Jihoon turns on the lights!”

“It’s fine, boys,” Daniel tries to calm them down before a full-blown argument gets the attention of someone and he’s pretty sure there are rules against bringing four children into the college dorms. “Let’s not fight, alright?”

“Daniel?” 

Jihoon finally finds the light switch and when he turns it on, Daniel can see how much of a mess he’s made. He’d attempted to cover them up with a blanket, but Woojin had destroyed that and now they’re all lying on the ground in a tangled mess.

“Hey, babe,” he manages to say while lifting himself off the floor.

“What are you doing here?” Jihoon gasps as realises that Daniel is not alone. “And you brought them? Are they even allowed – _oh my god_ , when you said you missed them on our video calls you didn’t actually mean you wanted to kidnap them, did you?”

“Excuse you, I got permission from their parents,” Daniel retorts, dusting his jeans. “I heard they missed us too much, so I bought five train tickets and I guess we’re here now?”

“And here you are,” Jihoon replies, still looking a little frazzled from the surprise.

“Come here,” Daniel smiles, holding out his arms. “It’s been forever, and I miss you.”

Jihoon relents, and collapses into Daniel’s embrace. It’s been a tough two months with both of them trying to work around their schedules to catch up with each other every now and then, and now that Jihoon is here, in his arms, it all feels very surreal to Daniel.

“I missed you so much,” Jihoon says into his neck.

Daniel prepares himself to say something either very cheesy or very inappropriate back to Jihoon when he feels someone tugging on the hem of his shirt.

It’s Jinyoung, staring at both of them wide-eyed.

“Can we go get food now?”

“Yeah, of course, Jinyoung,” Jihoon quickly detaches himself from Daniel’s embrace. “Where should we go?”

“Anywhere is good with you,” Daniel replies as he plants a big kiss on Jihoon’s cheek and grins when his boyfriend flushes in response.

The magic of the moment is lost when Tiny Terror lets out a scream and runs out of the room, hands covering both of his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I can’t believe you got me kicked out of an art museum, and then my own college!”

“This isn’t too bad, is it?” Daniel replies, embarrassed as he returns to where Jihoon and the boys are waiting, with two bags of fried chicken in his hands.

Jihoon only sighs in response, but accepts the drumstick Daniel offers to him as a form of apology.

“I can’t believe you sometimes,” Jihoon shakes his head as he sinks his teeth into his chicken.

“Well,” Daniel says as he shifts closer to Jihoon and their thighs touch. “Am I the one that fell in love with a mess of a babysitter?”

Jihoon looks offended, but Daniel thinks he looks a lot more endearing this way.

“Thought so,” he replies and kisses Jihoon’s nose. “Eat up, babe.”

**Author's Note:**

> wow thank u for making it to the end of my longest one shot ever!! i hope you enjoyed it :~)
> 
> do leave me comments about how you feel and just feedback and reactions on the story in general? i really love reading all your comments :)
> 
> on a side note, my exams are coming up and i feel that i have to break from writing to focus on that so... i'm taking a hiatus until the end of February :( I'm going to miss you guys a lot but rest assured i will update my chaptered fics when i return and overload the tag with so many different aus i already have drafted out! (not kidding i have like 13?)
> 
> as always, thank you for all your support and love.
> 
> i literally don't deserve you guys ;-;
> 
> take care until i get back! <3
> 
> love, bapaldeul :D


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